Railroaders' Nostalgia > An Explosion on the "Georgetown."

   Back in 2006, I retired after 40 years in train service with the Southern Pacific/Union Pacific.  I worked my entire career in the Los Angeles area.  In the spring of 2007, we moved to Castle Rock, Colorado, and in a moment of weakness, I let myself get talked into hiring out with the Georgetown Loop Railroad.  For those of you unfamiliar with this rail road, it operates about three miles of former Colorado and Southern narrow gauge track in Clear Creek Canyon, east of Denver.  Featured, is the "High" bridge which makes up part of the loop.  I worked as a conductor/brakeman/fireman and trainer.  The primary power for the railroad was # 12, a little 2-6-2.
   On the day in question, it was the 4th of July.  The plans were to operate an employee friends and family trip that evening to view the town of Georgetown's fireworks display from the high bridge.  I was scheduled to work the special as a brakeman.
   Since there was quite a time interval between the last regular run of the day and the special, the fire had been killed.
   When came time to get steam back up, there were about five of us at the Silver Plume shop.  GLRR policy was that there needed to be someone in the cab of the 12 whenever a fire was lit.  All of us that were qualified firemen were taking turns watching her as the steam slowly built back up.  We were allowed to leave the cab for brief periods.
   When I was on fire watch, I felt the need to use the facilities.  Before I got off, I checked the fire and the water, and everything was as it should be.  The 12 was contentedly singing to herself.  When I walked into the office and closed the door behind; KABOOM!!, there was an explosion strong enough to rattle the shop windows!
   We all ran outside thinking the 12 had just blown up!  Instead, she was still sitting there happily making quiet steam engine noises!  As we stood around scratching our heads trying to figure out what just happened, an off-duty engineer, Dan Adler walked around the corner with a big grin on his face.
   Come to find out, he had a model black powder cannon.  I don't remember what the barrel diameter was, but that thing was LOUD! He was hidden out of sight, and when he saw me go in the office, he let 'er rip!
   We loaded the thing on the train, and during the fireworks display, he fired that thing three or four times.  The town folks below us must have wondered what was going on up at the railroad.
   A grand time was had by all.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO

Great story.
JB

Wasn't this story in Trains Mag too ?

Posted from Android

Hi Brian...........long time  Randy  old SP

Ron Baker of SP fame had a replia cannon built for the top of his house, which looked like an old castle. The barrel was probably 12" diameter and 3ft long. This thing looked great sticking out past the edge of the roof. He had a party one weekend and somebody brought some M80's over. Since everyone was well oiled by this point, he decided to light one and throw it down the barrel. Well, next thing was a huge bang and flame out of this thing. A couple more times and the police showed up. Seams the neighbor across the street from him didn't like this thng pointed at his house! They came up on the roof deck, took a look at it and decided it wasn't real, but told him no more. So, no more cannon crackers, instead, we went on the beach in front of this guys house and blew holes in the sand. For those of you who know Baker, this was the house that Giles built. But that's another story

For a tourist operation, that's some authentic railroading!

EO