CHUR, Switzerland — Take a good look at that picture above.

I took it just as we were departing Bergun, Switzerland, on Thursday afternoon. The guests on Trains’ Swiss tour were all smiles after about 10 miles of twists, turns, curves, tunnels, and scenic bridges.

No, I mean it. Our day began in Lugano with a bus ride to Tirano, Italy, and varied pizza/spaghetti/panini lunches. That was all preparation so our group of 36 people could board meter-gauge coaches of the Rhaetian Railway’s “Bernina Express” to Chur. 

Let me emphasize this point: narrow gauge, mountain railroad, in Switzerland. 

Those are three BIG checks in the Awesome column for rail fans. 

After two hours climbing the Alps in specially built gallery cars, we changed trains in St. Mortiz and the even bigger deal: the Albula Pass. 

That’s where the twists and turns came in. From the top of Albula Pass at Preda, there’s a near-constant parade of meter-gauge work equipment expanding the tunnel, freight trains, and passenger trains about 10 miles north — and downhill — to Bergun. The ride down includes S-curves in tunnels, stone viaducts, a snow shed or two, and so many downgrade double-back loops, you couldn’t help but be happy.

But wait, there’s more!

The windows opened.

So, the window glare from earlier in the day was gone and we could get video and photos of any angle from the train. 

It was the narrow gauge ride of my life.

And then, I remembered to put down the high definition video camera to take an iPad shot for all of you. That’s what you see at the top of the screen: Bergun. It is, I will always say, a happy little town at the base of a joyride.

LA Metro’s relatively new video and print campaign to promote good conduct on its trains and buses looks more like something my 6-year-old son would watch than those that purport to be adults using transit. Have you seen these? My two favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyjHFYtz5hY#action=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uUFf8IomLg#action=share

But see them all here: www.metro.net/manners

Japanese anime superhero Super Kind shows riders how to have manners in various scenarios, while an orange, googly eyed monster named Rude Dude is the bad example. LA Metro’s videos are quite popular with thousands of views, however, are they really working? I’m not sure if I should hope that they are or be saddened that people need to be treated like first graders in order to be courteous to others.

The three themes the agency focuses on are not playing loud music, not buying food from vendors, and letting passengers exit before you board the train. Other topics include not eating on the train, not hogging seat space, and not blocking aisles. The agency collaborated with production studio Lord Danger and director Mike Diva to create the campaign last year. They casted a well-known YouTuber named Anna Akana, who is based in LA, to be Super Kind. 

The videos are amusing, professional, brief, and must be meeting the agency’s needs as it continues to grow its video collection. LA Metro’s total annual rail ridership is about 9.2 million, so keeping things running smoothly is imperative. “Each one of our riders have a role in creating a better transit experience for themselves and others by honoring these simple etiquette rules,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington in a news release. “We rely on you, our loyal customers, to help us provide a world-class transportation system for our county.”

The moral of the story for me is if Danny Trejo of “Machete” fame tells me to behave, I think I might just listen.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

ZERMATT, Switzerland — The headline is plain so you know where I want to go with this blog post. But I really wanted to write: “The importance of being Kurt and Tony.”

These two men, you see, are volunteers with the Dampfbahn Furka Bergstrecke (DFB) or Furka Cog Railway. I’ll just call it the Furka train from here on out. 

We met Tony first. He is a tour guide and interpreter for the Furka train who met the Trains 2018 Swiss tour group in Andermatt. After a stop to get paperwork in Realp, Tony followed us to Oberwald to give us interesting insights about the railroad, its construction, the politics of building it, etc. He traveled four hours from his home in northern Switzerland just to meet us and give us a shop tour afterward. It was one of two tours he’d do this year. And it was his pleasure — after all, Tony is a volunteer. 

He told us that the cows on the mountainsides of the Furka Pass are environmentally necessary since they help keep vegetation in check, which — when short and stubby — lessens the effects of avalanches on nearby villages and the railroad itself.

I’d have never guessed. 

Also, the red passenger coaches we were riding in were original to the Furka train from before World War I. They have been refurbished, but they have always operated on this line. Any other colored coaches — blue, for instance — are from other rack railroads in Switzerland.

Tony explained in detail about the folding bascule bridge on the route that comes down every autumn to allow avalanches to pass freely through without destroying it. Until later in the 20th century, the bridge was moved and packed by hand with ropes. Now, motorized winches do most of the work. 

About half-way through our journey over the Furka Pass, we met Kurt. Kurt is a volunteer who’s been with the railroad since the 1990s and worked in mechanical and maintenance-of-way departments, and helped actively raise money for restorations. Today, he’s in his mid-80s and still providing information to tour groups. But on Friday he came down for one reason: to meet with Trains’ Swiss tour.

Kurt has an affection for the U.S. and us, having worked in Wisconsin and California earlier in his life. He took on mountain steam railroading in his retirement years. Oh, and the stories he can tell: of 40-foot snow packs, restoring locomotives repatriated from Vietnam, and the difficulties in obtaining copper-arsenic-alloy firebox material, just to name a few. 

After our turn on the Furka train, we departed for Zermatt and Kurt rode with us most of the way. During that time, he’d point out geological features, the place where Mr. Ritz of Ritz Hotel fame was born the last of 11 children; and he answered all of our questions about railroads, railroading, life in Switzerland, and his outlook on Switzerland itself (tourism is a pretty good thing).

He left us in Brig to return home to Basel. It was 6 p.m.-or so already and he believed he would be home by 11 p.m.

He and Tony are dedicated and thoughtful. It reminds me that without them — and women and men like them — the steam train we rode and loved so much would not exist very long.

To them we say, “Thank you.”

ZERMATT, Switzerland — Alright. I admit it. I wanted to show off with the picture above. 

And after I bragged to fellow photogs on the Trains’ 2018 Switzerland tour, they all went for their own version: on Canons, Nikons, in 4K, and on film. This particular shot is not iconic, but it is less common, if only because the Matterhorn (that spiky mountain in the background) is often shrouded in clouds or fog, even on otherwise nice days. 

Of course, since we were on a rail tour, I HAD to get a picture of the mountain with a train. It’s practically obligatory. 

I could bore you with details about the man unicycling down the mountain, another man carrying a suitcase down the mountain, or the really good elderberry cake I ate for lunch, but I want to offer a word or two instead about track and structures on the MGB or the Matterhorn Railway. 

For starters, it’s all purpose built: for passengers, baggage, and bicycles. But for the resorts, trail heads, and scenic overlooks, there is absolutely no reason to build a railroad — let alone a meter-gauge rack railroad — up here.

And the first thing I noticed are the track fasteners. Incredible!

From what I could see, from the base to the tippy top, and on every switch and siding, the Swiss have three-bolt clamps with a washer to ensure tightness. Two on each side of the rail hold gauge and one more on each side literally clamp the web of the rail to the ties.

Oh, the ties. They’re all metal or concrete. Really, unless there’s a water built-up, they will be impervious to weather practically forever on well-graded, immaculately maintained ballast. This goes double for the catenary installation that looks nearly new. May I say. The whole thing is overbuilt. Surely a few broken bolts or rotted ties wouldn’t hurt, would they?

As for operations, there were absolutely no delays or hiccups, and the railroad itself ran as thought it were an integral part of the regular Swiss network. And in effect, it is.

After two hours viewing the Matterhorn, we descended to Zermatt where we caught another meter gauge train to see more mountain peaks, waterfalls, the longest pedestrian bridge in the world, and plenty more tunnels, bridges, and viaducts. 

You know — every day ordinary scenery. 

And then it hit me. All the things model railroaders often get criticized for: unrealistic heights, too many bridges, too steep of grades, too tight radii. It exists in Switzerland.

Wow.

MONTREUX, Switzerland — That’s my tour group. 

Get that?! MY group.

In the picture above, we’re waiting on a train to take us from the Chillon Castle on Lake Geneva back to Montreux, where we’re staying two nights. Sunday and Monday were designed to be two easy days because we needed it. We’ve been walking constantly. Eating meals late, getting up early, and keeping each other awake. 

We were polite with one another from the first night, but after all this time and all these adventures, we’re closer. 

For lack of better words, we take care of each other.

That was all the more important because one person lost their passport last weekend. And with that, they lost their money and train pass while also unnecessarily taking on a sense of hopelessness and low self worth. 

I mention this because the response from the rest of the group was amazing. One person filed a lost item report with Swiss Railways, another checked on information with the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland to see what would need to be done to replace the passport, and we all comforted this person in the meantime.

After a day and a lot of worry, the Swiss found the missing bag with the needed contents and said where they could be picked up, about 90 minutes away by train. 

A nearby hotel we had stayed at agreed to go fetch the passport before the rail office closed, and one in our group acted as an escort to the pick up location. 

All items were recovered safe and sound. Oddly, Swiss Railways policies prevent them from returning money, so they cashed the U.S. dollars and gave the person back the equivalent in Swiss francs minus a mandatory finders fee.

On the train ride home, the person who lost items recounted the whole story to a fellow passenger on the train. The passenger politely smiled and affirmed what the next stop was as she listened. 

After the hurried recitation, she simply said, “Welcome to Switzerland.”

”It is very rare that anything lost will not be found.”

That’s just the way it is here. 

Next stop! Junfraujoch: Europe’s highest train station.

Onward!

INTERLAKEN, Switzerland — Quantity and quality are often traded off one another as mutually exclusive choices. But if you think those are your only choices, you obviously haven’t been on a Trains tour of Switzerland. Because today, after about 10 hours and thousands of feet difference in elevation, our group changed trains 10 times.

Yes. TEN TIMES. 

(And you smarty pantses out there, we didn’t lose anyone.)

We began the day at Montreux and headed just a couple of miles up the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway to Chernoix for a shop tour at 07:52. (All times in military time). We had about 45 minutes for the tour and departed on the next train at 09:03 for Zweisimmen. These two trains were on the meter-gauge network known as the Golden Pass Route. It’s scenery was as majestic as it comes traversing the Alps in modern, wood-veneer coaches.

We took an 11:03 train to Spiez on the Bern-Lotschberg-Simplon Railway. We had just a few minutes at Spiez to catch another “BLS” train at 12:05 to Interlacken Ost, where we took the Bernese Oberland Railway to Lauterbrunnen (also meter gauge). That’s where we transferred to the Wengeralp Railway for ascent to Kleine Scheidegg at 13:07. And after a quick latrine stop, we continued on the meter-gauge rack railway Jungfrau Railway to Jungfraujoch, the highest altitude train station in Europe and one of the highest in the world.

BREATHE. No really, the air was thin up there at 11,371-feet above sea level. There we trod on a glacier, took some decent pictures, and bought too much chocolate at the shops atop the mountains. 

We started our descent at 16:43 for Kleine Scheidegg but this time transferred at 17:33 to the train to Grindewald on the Wengeralp Railway. At Grindewald we cross-docked the platform to a waiting Bernese Oberland Railway Train to Interlacken at 18:19.

Phew. 

That was a lot of trains — all narrow gauge, all wonderful, Swiss, and mountainous. 

One of the guests grabbed my arm after dinner tonight and said, “Ten trains in one day is magical.”

Amen.

Tomorrow, we’re on to Brienz and Lucerne!

(Please visit the site to view this video)

LUCERNE, Switzerland — Wow. That was one heck of a day. 

Trains’ Swiss Tour 2018 visited Brienz, Switzerland, today for a ride to near the top of the Brienz Rothorn Mountain. At the base is the small lake-side town with an 800-mm narrow-gauge rack railroad that uses mostly steam locomotives with diesel back-ups and diesel work trains.

It was our ninth day of true summer-like temperatures — 75 to 85 degrees — blue skies, and gentle breezes.

I think we were all excited about having a steam locomotive push all 36 of us up a mountain to the obligatory restaurant and quaint hotel overlooking nearby mountains. We departed the base on schedule at 9:40 a.m. for a nearly hour-long, five-mile ride to the top.

We were unprepared for what started arriving to the top after us at about 11:45: a parade of three steam passenger trains. The Brienz rack railroad, you see, operates at least four steam locomotives and all of them operated today. The three trains we saw winding their way skyward were bringing the Noon-time lunch crowd to the top of the mountain in full sunshine where 36 railfans and significant others watched in full view.

A small coal-burning tank engine built in 1891 powered the last of these ascending trains. Unlike it’s 1990s-built cousins, this last steam engine had a definitive thoaty chuff (or chug) and tossed up a healthy plume of sulfury smoke — oh how amazing it was. 

Breathtaking. Each of the locomotives’ stack blasts reverberated in successive staccato off the mountains’ walls and right up to us.

The handful of us in position were even able to video or take pictures of the coal-powered train ascending the mountain into a tunnel in the foreground while one descending steam train exited another tunnel about a mile away and down the mountain. 

Wow.

I make my living using words and I don’t have the right ones handy to adequately convey what we experienced today. The video above comes close. 

Tomorrow, we travel to the Pilatus Bahn for the world’s steeped cog railway. Can’t wait!

LUCERNE, Switzerland — Unable to hop out of the Pilatus Bahn cog railway cars to get a better picture, I opted to show you an approximation of what it was like to ride the Pilatus near Lucerne today. Please accept my apologies.

The picture above does the railroad some justice. But man, oh man, there’s not a stick of what you might call tangent track on the entire line. It’s simply “up” and “down”: On curves, through tunnels, over stone arches, and next to more brown Swiss cows.

As a railroad, Pilatus is an engineering marvel — winning an award from American mechanical engineers in 2001. From its summit, you can see snow capped peaks to the west, which must have contained the Jungfraujoch, but you can also pick out Lucerne and surrounding cities.

The most interesting facet of this line, to me, is not its maximum 48-percent gradient, but the way engineers designed the cog system: with two cog wheels on opposite sides of a central bar that propel and stop the train. And the train is efficient, moving passengers from base to summit in about 30 minutes. 

Don’t believe me? Check out this video:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

There was a time, friends, when I was a mere lad. As a mere lad I had model trains before I had a good camera and a driver’s license with which to chase real trains. They were Lionel and HO, and they were good. So, I did things that model railroaders do and I exchanged printed passes to my imaginary basement short line with other modelers who did the same. And when I did, I soon learned that the profile of a Nickel Plate Road Berkshire is an icon that is not only held in great revere not only by those who swear by the afore mentioned railroad company. The likeness of a Nickel Plate Road Berkshire is a sacred thing to many as I saw on rubber stamps that adored envelopes bearing passes to imaginary railroads far and wide. It was on passes themselves. Heck, I even gave in and used it on the rubber stamp I used to dress up my Macon County Railroad’s correspondence. And believe me I had no business being interested in NKP 2-8-4s, having grown up in rural Western North Carolina.

So, for the last three days, I have reveled in the picturesqueness of NKP 765 as it has run up and down the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad multiple times. The more I see this stately locomotive, and bear in mind that I’ve seen it now for going on 35-plus years, it looks more and more like a chiseled Greek god to me; a mobile Mona Lisa with cylinders, drivers, and a smokestack; an old friend whose face always lights up to greet you. Just look at the pictures, and I believe you will agree with me. 

There’s nothing new about NKP 765. She is just steam locomotive good looks. It’s in that face – the slatted pilot, the pump shields, the head light and Mars light combination, the hanging bell, and indicator boards that are well balanced. It’s the right combination of drivers, boiler, valve gear, cab, and firebox, and a tender that doesn’t overpower the engine or look like it should be coupled to something less sophisticated. No. 765, as they say, is the entire package.

Of course, so far, all we’re talking about is looks and appearances. But NKP 765 is one powerful 4,000 hp brute. At Cuyahoga Valley, 15 passenger cars loaded with 800 customers each don’t tax her. She can probably handle twice that number and still never strain on this water-level route. But hook her up just right and she can still put on a show.

A few other random notes before I close for the evening:

·         No. 765 was hardly the only show at Cuyahoga Valley this weekend, where the railroad is celebrating its acquisition of two former California Zephyr domes, Silver Lariat and Silver Solarium. The cars have been in private car service for years, the owners are ready to retire, and at their new home, they’ll see plenty of good use. Maybe even more on a regular basis than before. Perhaps instead of the California Zephyr, it’s the Cuyahoga Zephyr?

·         Security for this weekend’s trips was tight. There was a significant show of police presence, many areas with temporary no parking signs along roads that parallel the tracks, and many temporary barricades and volunteers in safety vests to keep spectators back. If you chase next weekend, plan to be on your best behavior. Given the fatality that happened on Union Pacific 844’s Frontier Days excursion in July, the extra effort for safety is to be expected.  

·          It is good to see steam excursion trains sold out. With 800 seats per trip, hopefully that’s another 2,400 new customers each weekend who know the excitement and thrill of big steam.

Have a great week, and I’ll check back soon with more steam news.

An eastbound MetroLink light rail train arrives at Delmar Loop on Sept. 22, 2018. Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

And, let me tell you, that's a wicked way to spend a Saturday!

I had the pleasure of visiting St. Louis this past weekend and riding MetroLink. What a great service! It was easy to use, clean, and had a smooth ride. My husband and I took the Red Line from Delmar Loop to Laclede’s Landing to see the Gateway Arch. However, you can disembark at Eighth and Pine to be closer to the Arch. We bought one-day adventure passes for $7.50 each. You can actually take the Blue or Red lines to get to the Arch, but only the Red Line takes you back to Delmar. Trains run on 20-minute headways and the agency boasts 98-percent on-time performance. MetroLink made automated announcements about approaching trains and special announcements about possible delays due to the Cardinals game on Saturday. Fortunately, the service is fairly easy to figure out. If public transit isn’t intuitive to you, most of the operators were fairly soft spoken aboard the trains and you must listen closely or otherwise be mindful of your stop. Incidentally, no one asked to see our tickets during the day. The light rail vehicles were comfortably occupied; we always got a seat. Riders seemed to be an even mix of locals and tourists. There’s no eating or drinking onboard, however, a vendor was selling candy, snacks, and incense and incense burners. I found that curious. I’m guessing you can’t burn incense aboard MetroLink either.

An Amtrak train at Gateway Station as seen from my seat on a MetroLink Red Line train. Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

Looking up at the Gateway Arch. Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

Looking across the river from the inside the top of the Arch. Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

A MetroLink train arrives at Laclede's Landing station on Sept. 22, 2018. Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

At the Arch, parallel to the Mississippi River is Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis trackage. I was fortunate to see one very long loaded coal train start to finish from above as it was going through a tunnel. The locomotives on the headend were blue and white (perhaps leasers?) and there was BNSF distributed power on the end. I took Instagram live video of it thus I can’t share it here. We also rode the Red Line later in the evening to Central West End and took a short walk to the BBQ Saloon on Laclede Avenue. If you go, you must get their candied bacon. It was heaven. Alas, I forgot to take a picture as I was on a spiritual plane while eating it. Definitively, this will not be our last visit to St. Louis. We had a great time and will make a point to go back and see more of the beautiful city.

BONUS:

You can check out former Wabash Railway Delmar Station around the corner from the Delmar MetroLink station. Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

I took a much-needed big steam sabbatical in Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina last week. The occasion was Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765’s now annual fall visit to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, continuing restoration work on Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 at Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, and Norfolk & Western No. 611’s only mainline appearance this year, an unpublicized ferry run between Spencer, N.C., and the Class J’s hometown in Roanoke, Va. Based on that connect-the-dots trip, I’d like to make a few observations on each visit and conclude with an overall thought on the status and future of big steam.

First, No. 765 puts on a fine show on Cuyahoga Valley’s well-groomed welded-rail mainline through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I’m sorry that I’ve waited as long as I have to partake in it. Pulling 15 sold out cars, it’s the right route, the right consist, and the right locomotive for 2.5-hour trips aimed at the public at large. The water-level trip isn’t strenuous, and No. 765 doesn’t get to roll fast, but it’s still a tremendous display of Lima Super Power doing what it was supposed to do in one of the most classic packages ever created and just down the road from Cleveland, where the Van Sweringen brothers set the design for the Nickel Plate locomotives as well as other railroads under their control. While No. 765 is or will soon be returning back to its Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society world headquarters, the Cuyahoga Valley is certainly a good second home for the locomotive. After riding and watching this operation across three days, it’s mainline steam without the inherent conflicts and difficulties of a Class I main line. I hope its visits will continue and even expand. Next year is the 40^th anniversary of No. 765’s restoration to operation. Let’s have a party!

I spent a day and part of another in the shop at Ridgeley, Md., where the Diversified Rail Services restoration crew is busy preparing Chesapeake & Ohio No. 1309 for a test fire. The on-again, off-again restoration is on again, and I do not see any stopping for it until the engine is in one piece and ready for road testing. If all goes well, I think you’ll see good things happening for this locomotive and this railroad that has had to struggle through one challenge after another in recent years. No. 1309 is taking on its old C&O front end appearance once more, even as the sign painter is ready to finish the tender with Western Maryland lettering and a fireball on the tender. Regardless of the lettering, it will be a beast on the 17-mile all up-grade trip from Cumberland, Md., to Frostburg, Md. An articulated in the East running on a regular basis not far from home territory will be an irresistible attraction. I look forward to it being part of 2019’s Year of the Articulated (Think about the articulateds under restoration and set to run next year: Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014, Oregon Coast Scenic 2-4-4-2 Skookum, and Black Hills Central 2-6-6-2T, No. 108, a sister to BHC’s already operational No. 110).

My third and final visit was to witness No. 611 scoot along the Norfolk Southern mainline in North Carolina. An NS freight experiencing trouble on the former Virginian Railway route between Altavista, Va., and Roanoke Va., unexpectedly sent the J into Roanoke on home N&W rails west of Lynchburg, Va., and across fabled Blue Ridge grade. That was poetic justice. The big 4-8-4 worked little with its train of a canteen, two baggage-tool cars, and three gondolas. That was practicality – it was a straight shot into the museum without a side trip to the yard to drop freight cars. It was good to see the J on the mainline even if it was just for one day. The big question, of course, is when will No. 611 run again? Without NS sponsorship and without Amtrak to provide insurance and crews, there’s a lot of doubt out there. No. 611 is an expensive jewel for owner Virginia Museum of Transportation, but one that also brings it a lot of acclaim, members, and revenue. No. 611’s keepers checked every available option for a potential place to run in 2018, and in some cases only the Class J’s considerable size or connecting roads prevented the engine from visiting. I expect they’ll make more such investigations for 2019. The museum, 611’s supporters, NS, and everyone involved worked too hard to raise the money in 2014 and 2015 to restore this, the greatest 4-8-4 ever built, and then allow it to sit idle. The bottom line is that No. 611 is ready to go when there’s a railroad ready to have her. And NS continues to be a good host, allowing the Class J and No. 765 to ferry from one venue to another. My bottom line: If VMT gets creative, and if the right mix of opportunity and desire come together, No. 611 will run again sooner than later.  

In conclusion, Big Steam lives on, despite many obstacles. This will be the first October that I can remember in my lifetime when there are no mainline steam excursions on a Class I railroad. None. Zero. Nada. You can’t believe it? Neither can I.[One pleasant exception called to my attention after I first wrote this post: Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225 will ply the rails of its regional railroad host in Michigan.] But I still remain hopeful. Why? By the end of this year, the third of these magnificent machines should be roadworthy. The conditions for them to thrive are constantly changing. For the two that run on the mainline, there’s still the expense and complexity of installing Positive Train Control. For the one that has its own rails to call home there still remain challenges. There always will be. At one point this year, I was convinced that 2018 was going to be 1958 all over again: That it might be the end of big steam. But then I took a few days in the field, visited the engines, talked to the crews, and I felt the spark that is still alive. All of that that reminded me of a favorite quote, and please forgive the paraphrase: The only thing that will allow these steam locomotives to go cold and become rusty is for good men and women to do nothing.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/6786.Loop1.jpg" position="right"]Former West Side Lumber Shay No. 9 backs across the Devil's Gate High Bridge at the Georgetown Loop.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/2287.Loop2.jpg" position="right"]Shay No. 9 prepares to run around its train at Devil's Gate -- just before mechanical problems sidelined the locomotive.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/4848.Loop3.jpg" position="right"]Pinch-hitting for the Shay, center cab diesel No. 1934 leads our train across the High Bridge.[/caption]GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Steam locomotives are complex machines. As such, they can be a bit temperamental.

We were all reminded of that during today’s Trains Tour of Colorado.

This is the first full day of this year’s Colorado tour, which has been a regular part of the Trains tour schedule since 2015. This year’s itinerary is much the same as it has been since we began offering the trips with our partners at Special Interest Tours. The first day features a visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum and the Georgetown Loop railroad; we’ll also be visiting the Leadville, Colorado & Southern, Royal Gorge Route, Durango & Silverton, Cumbres & Toltec, and the Rio Grande Scenic. (New this year is a visit to South Park Rail, for a tour of the shops and speeder rides; that’s been added in lieu of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, shut down pending a rebuild,)

As we lunched in Georgetown this afternoon, we could occasionally hear the whistle of the Georgetown Loop steam locomotive, former West Side Lumber Shay No. 9. Having ridden behind one of the railroad’s diesels on my previous visit, I was — like many of our guests on the tour — looking forward to riding behind steam.

We were at the Devil’s Gate station, at the east end of the 3.1-mile railroad, in plenty of time to watch No. 9, running backward, pull the train across the Devil’s Gate High Bridge and into the station. Unfortunately, aftter we boarded, it was determined that No. 9 had a little mechanical problem that would not make its use prudent for hauling a train full of people. (Our conductor said this was the fifth time in his five months on the railroad that the Shay had come up lame.)

So one of the Loop’s diesels, a center-cab built as a standard-gauge 44-tonner and subsequently converted to narrow gauge, was dispatched from shops at Silver Plume. After about a 40-minute delay, we were on our way. No. 9 began a careful trip back to Silver Plume for repairs; we would meet it at the midway siding on our return trip.

So, no steam today. But, while it was a bit cloudy and cool, the forecast rain did not materialize, and it’s still an enjoyable trip, which featured a few splashes of great fall color from the scattering of aspens along the  evergreens that line the route.

I know some members of our party were disappointed, but everyone seemed to keep the turn of events in perspective. We have a lot of experienced travelers here — including at least one couple on this tour for the second time — and they understand that part of travel is learning to enjoy the experience that you do have, rather than dwelling on the one you didn’t.

And in a year where other Colorado tourist railroads have been shut down or unable to operate normally because of fires and landslides, a locomotive switch is truly a small issue.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/8233.Leadville1.jpg" position="right"]Today's charter train on the Leadville, Colorado & Southern.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/7418.Leadville2.jpg" position="right"]The view from the Leadville, Colorado & Southern is hard to beat.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/1072.Como1.jpg" position="right"]The restored Como depot on a gorgeous Colorado afternoon.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/5287.Como2.jpg" position="right"]Members of our tour group take a handcar for a spin between the Como roundhouse and depot. (All photos by David Lassen)[/caption]COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Day Two of the Trains Tour of Colorado featured a visit to an old friend of our tour groups, and a new stop with a notable place in the state’s railroading history.

Up first today was a visit to the Leadville, Colorado & Southern, a regular feature of our tours and one that I think has been a new experience to a majority of our travelers. I’m delighted we can introduce them to it; the highest standard gauge railroad in North America (the tracks reach 11,318 feet, although that portion of the railroad is not operated regularly) is an operation that deserves to thrive. Ken and Stephanie Olsen bought the railroad for $10 from Burlington Northern in 1987 and began operations the next year, and as the LC&S concludes its 30th year of operation on Sunday, I think it remains a bit of an underappreciated gem. We’ve always found the Olsens — who have made the railroad a true family business — to be gracious hosts, and the scenery is on a par with any tourist railroad in the country. I mean, just look at that photo at right.

I had a few minutes to talk with Ken Olsen after our trip; he said his railroad has had a good season but is dismayed that the state’s tourist rail industry had a tough year in many ways, including the closure of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. He understands the big picture: the more tourist rail attractions there are, the more people are likely to come visit the state and include his railroad on their itinerary. We’ll keep visiting Leadville on our tours, and I hope others who make their own Colorado rail journeys will do the same. This is an operation that deserves to thrive.

In the past, we’ve followed our visits to Leadville with a trip up Pike’s Peak. But with the Cog Railway shut down, today we added a stop in Como, Colo., where efforts to preserve and revive a former division point of the long-defunct Denver, South Park & Pacific are worth a look. Como’s original 1879 station — on the verge of collapse from neglect a decade ago — has been beautifully restored. It is now connected by a short stretch of track to a six-stall stone roundhouse, built in 1881, that has also been revived after decades of disuse, with a new roof and doors capping the original stone walls. The restoration effort has also brought in a Baldwin 2-6-2, built in 1912 for a mining operation in the Yukon Territory, that operated in Como for the first time in 2017. The locomotive is currently sidelined awaiting repairs.

One notable aspect of the Como revival is that it is a collaborative effort of two separate historical groups — the Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society and the South Park Rail Society — with broad public support. Significant credit also goes to Chuck and Kathy Brantigan, current owners of the roundhouse; Bill and Greg Kazel, the prior owners; and David Tompkins, owner of the station.

I think the majority of our group greatly enjoyed the visit to Como, in no small part because of the enthusiasm and knowledge of our various hosts. (I apologize that I did not catch every name and so cannot thank everyone properly; rather than leave someone out, I will just thank all of you on behalf of our group.)

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the town had little more to show for its railroading history than a station near collapse and a roundhouse with a roof that had caved in. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, to imagine Como as a destination for anyone other than the most hard-core fans of Colorado narrow gauge history. But — thanks to the vision of volunteers who imagined just such a day — the restoration effort is changing that, and as that work continues, visits to Como will should become even more attractive in the years ahead.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/6114.Gorge1.jpg" position="right"]A shiny A-B set of F units awaits action on the Royal Gorge Route.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/2502.Gorge2.jpg" position="right"]As seen in a photo in my hotel room on Tuesday night: an open-air car on the hanging bridge then ...[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/0131.Gorge3.jpg" position="right"]... and an open-air car on the hanging bridge now.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/8105.Gorge4.jpg" position="right"]The Royal Gorge Route's 12:30 p.m. train, as seen from the Royal Gorge Bridge.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/1488.Gorge5.jpg" position="right"]... and that same train in a shot that hints at the full scope of the gorge. (All photos by David Lassen)[/caption]CANON CITY, Colorado — In the days before our group arrived in Canyon City for its ride on the Royal Gorge route, I was exchanging text messages with Jody Moore, the railroad’s assistant general manager, to set up a video interview for an upcoming Trains project At one point, he dropped in a short aside: “Your timing is good. We just put the F7s back on the train this weekend.”

Now, that was a truly welcome bit of news.

When last I was on the Trains Tour of Colorado, in 2015, the train trip along the Arkansas River and through the Royal Gorge was powered by an ex-commuter GP40 — a fine locomotive, but something less than the epitome of streamliner-era design. There’s a reason the Royal Gorge Route uses an F unit, and not one of those Geeps, in its logo.

So when we arrived Thursday, on a somewhat gray morning, it was no small deal to see F7A No. 402 and its accompanying B unit, gleaming in fresh Grande Gold and silver, tied onto the train awaiting us in front of the railroad’s former Santa Fe depot. The train would indeed have a covered wagon on the point, as God and EMD designer Dick Dilworth intended.

What’s more, it would feature a matching consist of cars in the Rio Grande Prospector paint scheme, looking very much the part of a passenger train that belonged on this short surviving segment of the Grande’s Tennessee Pass line. (That, too, was a change from my previous visit, when some cars still bore the paint of previous owners.)

If the basic look is ideal, the difference in the details is not small. The Grande never had full length domes like the pair on our train (one of which was mostly filled by our group). Its regular passenger trains never had the open-air car that is truly the best place to experience this route, but they certainly have plenty of antecedents in the decades since rails were laid through the canyon — as I was reminded by a photo in my hotel room in Colorado Springs on Wednesday night. (As Moore told me when we talked, “We have a lot of scenery that goes up, not out.”) Like all of Colorado’s tourist railroads, the Royal Gorge Route’s biggest selling point is scenery, and in this case, that scenery is as dramatic and vertical as it gets. They call it the Grand Canyon of Colorado for a reason, and the only ways to experience it at water level are by train or whitewater raft. Not believing that the opportunity to drown enhances travel, I’ll stick to the train.

In a neat little addition from the first year we offered these tours, our group did get to see the gorge from the top as well as the bottom. After riding the train, we made the short bus trip to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, where we could ride the gondola across the canyon, or walk on the famous suspension bridge that that crosses some 955feet above the river. Which gave us the chance to photograph the 12:30 p.m. train up the gorge as it snaked along the river below us.

It’s a shot I always wanted, and the perfect capper to another spectacular day.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/0218.Durango1.jpg" position="right"]Going for the money shot in Animas Canyon.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/1526.Durango2.jpg" position="right"]You want fall colors?[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/5383.Durango3.jpg" position="right"]We'll show you fall colors. (All photos by David Lassen)[/caption]DURANGO, Colo. — There’s no bad time to visit the Durango & Silverton, but this was a particularly good time for three reasons:

— The railroad is finally running its full route on its regular schedule, after a summer disrupted by fire and mudslides.

— The fall colors are spectacular.

— The area can use the support.

The last point may be the most important. As we noted on Trains News Wire in late August, Durango & Silverton ridership was down 27 percent, with about 54,000 cancellations resulting from June’s fire that shut the railroad down for six weeks and July’s mudslides that caused another shutdown and led to abbreviated service for an extended period.  Regular operations resumed just two weeks ago, although trips have been lengthened by extensive slow orders through the slide area.

That’s 54,000 fewer people pumping money into the economies of Durango and (especially) Silverton, as well as 54,000 fewer paying fares for the railroad. During the June shutdown, some Silverton businesses said their income was down by 90 percent. Before we took our trip today, I suggested that if the members of our Trains Tour of Colorado could spend a little extra during our layover in Silverton, the merchants and restaurants would likely be highly appreciative. I was gratified to see more than a few plastic bags of merchandise accompanying us back to Durango.

As for the trip itself, there’s little I can say that hasn’t already been said about an operation that usually carries close to 200,000 passengers a year, and does so on merit, based on both the quality of the scenery and the professionalism of the operation. Scheduling a trip in hopes of experiencing fall colors is always a roll of the dice, but we definitely had good fortune on that score, as a couple of these pictures show (though they don’t quite do the colors full justice).

Tomorrow is essentially an off day for our tour. There’s an optional trip to Mesa Verde National Park; after 10 days on the road (five on the tour, five beforehand) I’m going to pass and recharge. So tomorrow will probably be an off day for the blog, as well.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/7853.cumbres1.jpg" position="right"]Doubleheaded steam at 'The Narrows.' Fall colors. What more can you ask?[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/1563.cumbres2.jpg" position="right"]The only thing this photo really lacks is the sound two K-36s make working upgrade.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/3463.cumbres3.jpg" position="right"]Definitely not a bad day at work. (All photos by David Lassen)[/caption]ALAMOSA, Colo. — If you ask a parent if he or she has a favorite child, the answer is usually going to be “I love them all equally.”

It’s almost like that with the tourist railroads on the Trains Tour of Colorado. Almost. Every one of these railroads has something to recommend it, and I enjoy every one of them. But I must admit I have a favorite child: the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a 64-mile railroading time capsule that is as close to a narrow-gauge operation from the 1950s (or ’40s, or ’30s) as is possible in an era of cellphones and microprocessors.

If anything, I love it even more after today’s trip. 

One thing we’ve added from earlier versions of the Trains tour is a bus-chase option on the Cumbres & Toltec. For the first portion of the trip, from Chama, N.M., to the top of Cumbres Pass, our guests had the option of riding the train or taking the bus, which would make several stops to shoot the train as it passes, with a representative of the railroad helping to guide us to the best spots. Since the C&TS’s climb out of Chama includes grades of up to 4 percent, it’s not hard for the bus to get ahead of the train several times.

I know many of those on the tour were conflicted whether to ride the train or chase it. My recommendation was that those who had never been on the C&TS before should ride the train, because I remember how much I enjoyed watching and listening as it worked to the absolute limits of its abilities to reach the top of the pass. Those who had visited before might still want to consider riding, I said, particularly taking the weather into consideration.

I guess I was pretty convincing, because we only had two of our 42 tour members chose the bus chase, which I had known I would be part of as part of my responsibilities in helping lead the group.

What I hadn’t known was that the railroad’s representative would be its president, John Bush. If the bus chase hadn’t yielded a single quality photo, it would have been worthwhile just to hear Bush — who returned to the C&TS as president of the C&TS in 2012 after a previous stint as assistant general manager and chief mechanical officer — talk about his railroad. He is justifiably proud of the Cumbres & Toltec, with great insights about its operations, its history, and its goals for the future (which include financial self-sufficiency in the near future.) I learned quite a bit about the railroad; I think all three of us on the bus really enjoyed the chance to talk with John.

But, of course, the bus chase generated a number of great photos of our 13-car train, which required doubleheaded power to the top of Cumbres Pass. When you have the president of the railroad guiding you, you better believe you’re going to end up at good spots. Add in some vibrant fall foliage, and we’d had a terrific day even before we got on the train.

And once on board, there was still plenty of time to enjoy the C&TS experience — which I have and will continue to wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who loves railroading. 

So, even with my always-high expectations for the C&TS, my “favorite child” exceeded them. I suppose that might explain why it’s my favorite.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/2133.tour_5F00_end2.jpg" position="right"]The final train ride of our tour, on the Rio Grande Scenic, featured a photo runby in the snow at Fir.[/caption][caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/3733.tour_5F00_end1.jpg" position="right"]Our tour group gathers with a couple of K-36s in Chama, N.M. (Photos by David Lassen)[/caption]DENVER, Colo. — That’s a wrap.

The fourth year of Trains tours of Colorado wrapped up Monday with our final train ride, from Alamosa to La Veta on the Rio Grande Scenic, followed by a bus ride to Denver and our farewell dinner at our hotel. Tomorrow, everyone flies home.

The ride on the Rio Grande Scenic was a bit sobering because it took us through the path of the Spring Creek Fire, which closed the railroad, burned down its concert venue at Fir, and destroyed 140 homes as it spread across more than 100,000 acres.

It was also more than a bit chilly. The train’s consist included an old friend — open-air, rear-platform observation car Lookout Mountain, which I first encountered too many years ago on a Southern Steam Special — but it was barely used on a cold, gray, windy morning, even by our hard-core group of fans. Most opted to stay in the ex-Santa Fe full-length dome where we were ticketed; a few others made their way to the adjacent former Illinois Central lounge cars, one of which was round-end observation Mardi Gras from the City of New Orleans. And when we stopped for a photo run-by at Fir, at about 9,200 feet, we did so in a fairly substantial snowstorm.

It’s a trip that probably deserves a more prominent place on the railfan radar. The eastbound climb to the top of the 9,242-foot pass is pretty dramatic. But then, La Veta pass has always been a bit overlooked. Ed Ellis of Iowa Pacific, the Rio Grande Scenic’s parent company, noted that while the San Juan Limited, the narrow gauge train from Alamosa to Durango, was well documented, the standard gauge trains that brought passengers from Denver to Alamosa mostly crossed the pass at night and were largely overlooked. “We have very few pictures of passenger trains on La Veta Pass,” he said.

So I think it was a pleasant surprise to many of our tour members. Several told me afterward how much they’d enjoyed it.

I believe, based on the comments at tonight's farewell dinner, that they would say the same about the tour as a whole. After eight tours in four years, we’re planning to give the Colorado package a rest in 2019, in part because of our focus on events connected to the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.But we plan to offer it again in 2020, and I look forward to being part of it — and other Trains tours — in the future.

I am going to miss John Gruber. The affable photographer, writer, editor, and found of the Center for Railroad Photograph & Art who passed away Tuesday at age 82 gave me many things.

As a kid, he showed me Southern Railway No. 4501 in the pages of Trains and in David P. Morgan’s book about that beloved locomotive. And then he showed me the Rio Grande narrow gauge in its final days. And so much more.

As an adult, he gave me a good friend in his son, Rich. We both liked the same things: Steam, preservation, oddball tourist railroads; travel; a cold beer.

Also, as an adult, he became my friend. He stayed at my house in North Carolina on his way to photograph Norfolk & Western No. 611’s last run in December 1994. He and Rich joined me on an epic excursion on the Rio Grande narrow gauge in 1998. I teased John by bringing my personal copy of the October 1969 issue of Trains for him to sign. That was the one that was full of his narrow gauge photos. He provided the autograph in the open gondola of a train behind Mudhen No. 463 hellbent for Cumbres Pass. It was fun to see John and Rich stand side-by-side: Rich is definitely a chip off the old block. It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago.

After I came to work at Trains in 2004, John became a valued contributor. In October 2009, John reprised his earlier Rio Grande story when I edited my own narrow gauge special issue, a faint echo to what David P. Morgan had done in 1969. A couple of years ago, he revisited the subject yet again with his oral histories of the last Rio Grande narrow gauge railroaders.

John had plenty of good stories to tell. Not long ago, realizing the hoopla about the transcontinental railroad anniversary next May, he proposed a story about the photographers who documented the event and gave us the most indelible railroad image of all time, the champagne photo at Promontory. I couldn’t say no. That story will be published in our special issue, Journey to Promontory, next January. I will miss that about John. He was as curious about railroading as he was about the person behind the camera documenting the ever changing railroad scene. It was curiosity that served him well.

John never lost his passion for the subject. When Norfolk Southern hosted its 21^st Century Steam excursions, he kept asking me when 4501, the premier engine of Southern’s excursions in the 1960s, would be ready. We were both there in Chattanooga, Tenn., when little sister, No. 630, kicked things off in 2011. He had made it full circle with the SR and NS steam programs.

Last August, when columnist Brian Solomon was in town on business, I ran into John and Brian at the Illinois Railway Museum the next day. I spotted them riding a Rock Island coach behind Frisco 2-10-0 No. 1630. They, like friends from back home in North Carolina and me, were enjoying being among the trains just as we always had. It’s the way I’d like to remember John, gazing out of the open window coach. Later on, we visited for a few minutes. Brian took this image of the two of us. I treasure it today in my grief.

So, John, I am going to miss you in so many ways. Thank you for all the images. Thank you for my friend Rich. Thank you for the stories you told. But most of all for being so much more. A friend in steam. A friend in railroading. A friend in railroad photography. A friend in railroad photographers. A friend.

I still remember vividly the image of the scrunched cap reflected in the window glass. It seemed an odd inclusion to this young railfan by a magazine called “Trains” that billed itself as “The Leading Magazine of Railroading.”

That photo was taken by none other than legendary photography John Gruber, who died this week at age 82. It accompanied his May 1994 feature story “A death in the family” recounting the end of the Green Bay & Western.

It wasn’t a story about locomotives, or passenger trains, or boxcars. It was a story about Railroading.

I’m often reminded of Gruber and that image when I’m trackside. When I look to make an image I ask myself what tells the story of railroading best? Sometimes it’s a locomotive, or a passenger train, or a boxcar. Often times, however, it’s something else entirely.

In August I worked with John on what turned out to be his last blog post for Trains, a 25-year look back at the demise of the Green Bay & Western– the railroad I will always associate with him thanks to that 1994 story.

At the end of the piece, Gruber encouraged readers to “remember the people.” This week, that’s exactly what we’re doing with you, John.

John Gruber signs a copy of "Railroaders:Jack Delano's Homefront Photography" at the Chicago History Museum, April 5, 2014. Photo by Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

There are folks worthier than me of writing about John Gruber who passed away Oct. 9, 2018. Certainly, the list includes his family, his close friends, railroaders, photographers, business associates, and railfans who admire the books he wrote, the photos he took, all the beautiful work he’d done personally and professionally, especially founding the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. John was a multitalented man with an amazing drive to create beautiful art in the fullest sense of imagery and words, to support other artists who do the same, and to give voice and outlets to numerous people in history by way of their families in the books and stories he wrote. The John that I knew was all of these things and something even more spectacular. And that was what I believe was his magnum opus: being a grandfather.

I’m pretty sure when John sat down in my office, his intent was never to discuss a book, a story, photos, or other upcoming projects. He wanted to talk about his grandkids. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting two of them, thankfully more than once. Earlier this summer, John asked me to go to lunch with him and his grandkids Martin and Tamara. I will admit I hadn’t before been asked to go to lunch with a contributor and his grandchildren. But, hey, it sounded like a good time to me! I asked him where he wanted to go. He said, “Well, they like ice cream. How about Culver’s?” How sweet of him. He always had their desires in mind. Going to lunch with the grandkids was something we’d put on the back burner for a while. I’m so glad we finally did it. The kids and their grandpa had a mutual admiration for one another. As we dined at a local Mexican place (at the last minute, John thought we could do better than Culver’s because after all, I was buying!), I asked the kids all kinds of questions about what they were reading (they’d brought books with them), what was keeping them busy over the summer, what extracurriculars they were in. As they answered my myriad questions, John chimed in, “They have wonderful musical talent.” “Martin is great at soccer.” “They’ve been doing [fill-in-the-blank activity] since they were little.”

And then he told me all about the Colorado narrow gauge trip he planned for his grandkids that they took this past summer — not the first trip “grandpa” had taken them on, of course, but it was a train trip, so John was stoked. He’d taken Martin and Tamara on other trips, including skiing out West since they were toddlers. He was so proud that Martin had been skiing since he was 3 or 4 years old. I think he told me that every time the topic of skiing ever came up. I’d heard about those ski trips, as well as other adventures with grandkids, for years, as John would sit in my office in his gray “grandpa” cardigan, hair in perfect disarray, reading glasses dangling around his neck, hands clasped in his lap, talking about his grandkids with John-like enthusiasm.

He was a big supporter of Trains4Kids, a two-time Kalmbach children’s publication. He’d ask me periodically if it’d ever get reprised. He even sent me a photo once of his grandson on a train to publish in a future kids’ magazine should it ever come to be. I’m sure deep down he’d wished his grandkids were railfans but he supported their individual interests with vigor and pride. Martin and Tamara will do great things, just like their grandpa — there’s no doubt. Drive and talent like John had is inherited in one form or another. And, I just know "Grandpa" will be "trackside" watching each and every one of their successes. I’m glad I got to know “Grandpa” John. He sparkled. His eyes twinkled when he spoke about his grandkids. It was a beautiful thing.