NEWS AND OTHER STUFF WE THOUGHT OF
Rails to the Rockies 2016: The NRHS Convention
THE NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY held its annual convention from July 19-24, this year in Denver, Colo. The event, based out of the Holiday Inn at Stapleton (I almost wrote “airport” but there isn’t an airport there anymore) focused largely on tourist railroads scattered along the Front Range of the Rockies. The convention committee, headed by John Goodman, faced a few challenges to produce a diverse convention. The reality is mainline steam (at least as far as a convention activity) is just about dead — conventions need to be scheduled a couple of years in advance to secure hotel space, and no railroad has a steam program that is going to commit to running something that far in advance. Indeed, mainline steam at this convention seemed unlikely until Union Pacific had 4-8-4 No. 844 ready to roll, and that wasn’t announced until the convention was about a month away. The other challenge is finding events close
to where the hotel space is. Conventions require a banquet room and meeting space — something you’re not going to find at the local Super 8. Most of the hotels that meet the requirements are located in or in the immediate suburbs of major cities, and that can be far away from any rail action. Not wanting to turn the NRHS conventions into “bus conventions,” the decision was made to keep bus rides down to a maximum of three hours; for Denver, that knocked out trips to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge. The first event of the convention was on Tuesday morning, when the first of those
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three-hour bus trips took place. Everyone was ferried to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, which operates from Cañon City to Parkdale, Colo. Passengers rode the regular brunch train behind a former Chicago & North Western F7A and a former Alaska Railroad F7B, both painted in the colors of the Denver & Rio Grande Western. The route through the Royal Gorge is ex-D&RGW (which continued on to cross Tennessee Pass), and passengers enjoyed not only a good meal but also dramatic
views of the gorge and its famous suspension bridge from domes and open cars. Wednesday’s primary trip was a tour of
the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) light rail lines that radiate out of the city. The NRHS group was given its own light rail trainset for the tour that covered much of the system. Following lunch at Union Station in Denver, the group rode to Denver International Airport on the new A Line heavy-electric commuter rail. Alternate
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