LISTEN
Todays show has a lot of railroad noise in the background because the interview was done live in the Parlor car of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TS) as it traveled from Antonito, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico. So…what got me into the Parlor car of the C&TS? A while back I was reviewing notes from my show that talked about the new lease on life given to steam locomotive #168 and its coal tender built in 1883 for Gen. William Jackson Palmer's Denver & Rio Grande Railway. Locomotive #168 had been sitting on display in Antlers Park, Colorado Springs since 1938 and is now in rebuild at Antonito, Colorado. As I talked with the C&TS about the status of #168 the staff invited me to come down to look at the rebuild for myself and as long I was going be in Antonito they invited me take a ride. I started outlining the different stories I uncovered in Antonito and it looks like I’ll be producing a number of shows about the C&TS; the rebuild of the 1883 steam locomotive #168 and its coal tender, The C&TS itself, The steam fireman and engineers school run by the C&TS, and my ride in the parlor car where I struck up a conversation with another first time rider on the C&TS.
