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AMTRAK ACS-64 MOVE UPDATE
Posted Friday, May 24 2013 at 1120 h MDT
Amtrak ACS-64 600 has reached Oakland and the blue tarp that had been covering it has been removed. The word from Trainorders is that it's supposed to go east on the head end of today's California Zephyr, train 6(24). That means it'll leave Helper in daylight on Saturday, arriving into Denver that night. At that point, 600 and a P42 or two will be cut out and head south. They'll run down the Joint Line and east to Avondale, where they'll go into the TTC. My guess is that the move will happen either overnight Sat-Sun, or during the day on Sunday. Updates as I get them and am near a computer.
Update (Mar 24, 1320h): And here it comes! [This thread] on Trainorders.com confirms that 600 is indeed on today's eastbound Zephyr leaving California. - NDHolmes
NEW TRIP REPORT - RETURN OF D&RGW 463
Posted Friday, May 24 2013 at 0011 h MDT
This past Monday (20 May 2013) was the first revenue run of D&RGW 463 - one of two surviving K-27s - after eight years of being idled and four years of rebuilding/restoration efforts. This year is also the engine's 110th birthday, as it's one of fifteen placed into service in 1903.
On Monday, 463 lead the annual deadhead move of cars from Antonito to Chama in preparation for the regular season. In celebration of 463's return, the Friends and the C&TS sold tickets on the trip. In addition, Michael Ripley put on a night shoot in Chama after its arrival. While it wasn't the greatest trip for photos because of delays, cancelled run-bys, and weather, it was definitely a memorable day of real narrow gauge railroading in the Rockies.
The trip report is posted [here]. - NDHolmes
NEW AMTRAK/SIEMENS ACS-64 HEADED FOR TTC
Posted Wednesday, May 15 2013 at 1650 h MDT
Amtrak's new Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotives were unveiled in California yesterday, and three of them will be headed to the TTC east of Pueblo for about six weeks of testing. They're being brought over as a special Amtrak move, similar to the Talgo moves of the last few months. Reports on Trainorders are that they're working on getting the move ready right now, and it should be underway shortly. I'll post updates as I get them - if I'm around - but my guess is that they'll arrive either Sunday or Monday. If so, you all are on your own, as I'll be out of touch down in narrow gauge country for the 463 trip. - NDHolmes
GOOSE 4 MOVING *THURSDAY*, NOT FRIDAY
Posted Wednesday, May 15 2013 at 1646 h MDT
Contrary to my previous post, RGS Goose 4 will move tomorrow, Thursday, 16 May 2013, not on Friday as originally planned. Apparently the trucking company wants to do it a day early. The move starts in Ridgway at 0800h tomorrow for those interested. I'd still like pictures if anybody catches the move. - NDHolmes
RGS GOOSE 4 RETURNING TO TELLURIDE
Posted Monday, May 13 2013 at 1015 h MDT
After several years of restoration by the Ridgway Railroad Museum, RGS Galloping Goose 4 is headed home to Telluride next Friday, 17 May 2013. The move is expected to start around 0800h and be completed by noon. Jim Pettengill of the Museum posted this information to NGDF on Saturday, and mentioned that anybody who wants to come watch - or help - is welcome. See the original thread [here]. Of course I have to work - I'm out of vacation until our new fiscal year starts on June 1 - so if anybody else gets pictures, I'd be appreciative of a few to post. - NDHolmes
ex-OR&L 15 JOINS 19 ON THE C&TS
Posted Monday, May 13 2013 at 0956 h MDT
19's sister engine, the 15, has been leased to the C&TS at least for the season. Both originally came from the Oahu Railway & Land Company's 3 ft. network. The 15 had been working up at the Georgetown Loop until the Ashbys were forced out at the close of the 2004 season. At that point, it was trucked down to the Colorado Railroad Museum for storage. Roger Hogan has photos [posted here] of it being unloaded in Chama last Saturday, 11 May 2013.
- NDHolmes
PHOTO GALLERY UPGRADE
Posted Thursday, May 2 2013 at 1058 h MDT
We've hit the point at which I need to do some fundamental upgrades on the photo gallery that powers large parts of DRGW.Net. On Thursday afternoon (May 2), I'll take the old gallery offline for a while as I migrate everything to the new one. Hopefully things will go relatively smoothly, as I already ran a test transition last night to work out any bugs, but there's always going to be something. This is a huge change from a highly-customized version of Gallery 1.5 to Gallery 2.3.2.
The reason for the change is that Gallery 1.x went end-of-life years ago, and always had issues with very large photo galleries. Once you hit 5k images, it starts to be a real slug. We're currently at ~6k within the gallery, and I have a huge backlog of things to be posted. In order to keep growing, I've got to make the change.
The advantages to you, the user, are mostly in a much more responsive website. The image galleries will be much snappier to load. Also, it will allow for multiple intermediate sizes (rather than a 150x150px thumbnail, an 800px intermediate, and full size, you'll get a couple larger sizes that still aren't the big one...), and there will be a new "slideshow" option.
So be patient - things are going to be broken for a little while, but hopefully I'll get them patched back together within a few hours.
Update (Friday, May 3, 1124h): I think it's done and working. Everything I've tried shows the new gallery up and running without major issues (other than a slight spacing difference in the left-side menu that I'm working on). If anybody sees any weirdness, email me.
- NDHolmes
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