Western Railroad Discussion > The Romance of Rincon.

Deep within the confines of the beautifully lush San Lorenzo Valley, a romantic aura of unadulterated tranquility reigns throughout the exquisite cathedral of virgin, old-growth forestland. Known the world over for their majesty and stately stature, vast groves of native California coastal redwood and Douglas-fir trees have called Santa Cruz County home for centuries. Classified as a part of the Northern California coastal forest ecoregion, many of the impressive trees in this plentiful belt regularly reach three hundred feet in height.

In an instant, the quiet repose of the dense woodland is disrupted by the obtrusive squeal of protesting flanges. Before long, the lines of a brawny locomotive become apparent. Having been predominantly sheltered for three miles under the shade provided by massive Sequoia sempervirens, Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific 2641 shines in the late morning sun at Rincon, leading the Mount Hermon Special downgrade to Santa Cruz.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018.

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First time I've ever heard of a CF7 being described as "brawny".
I've heard them called many other things though.

PHall Wrote:
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> First time I've ever heard of a CF7 being
> described as "brawny".
> I've heard them called many other things though.

From this angle, brawny is a good choice. Enjoyed the image and description.

OK, looking at that track, I have a question:  how much does a tamping machine cost?  Do the big RR's ever get rid of fairly decent ones, at a discount?  I'm figuring if a shortline had one, doing just 1 mile a week of tamping could make a huge difference in track conditions and safety.

Great picture, that’s one of the train rides I wish I had done before moving out of the Bay Area.

Posted from iPhone

coach Wrote:
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> OK, looking at that track, I have a question:
>  how much does a tamping machine cost?  Do the
> big RR's ever get rid of fairly decent ones, at a
> discount?  I'm figuring if a shortline had one,
> doing just 1 mile a week of tamping could make a
> huge difference in track conditions and safety.

Well tamping doesn't work unless you have some ballast to tamp first. So it's not just running a tamper over the line. You have to dump and distribute ballast first.
And that costs money and lots of it. It's not as simple as you think.