Steam & Excursion > TTC&P RR 5

Maybe I should have posted this on the Nostalgia Board? It dates from about 1981, but that was really just yesterday wasn't it? Here it's 2009 already! Time sure passes fast after you get to be a senior citizen. This is at Chama. I was in my big truck dead heading back to the 'Dome from Farmington NM and since I could take a little longer for the trip back to Houston, I decided to take the "back way" on US64 to Chama, pick up US 84 or 87(?)
(hazy senior memory here) just outside of Chama and head south from there to Santa Fe, and I-40. There was another faster route on NM 91? thru Cuba and on towards Bernalillo and I-25 but that way wasn't anywhere as interesting of a way for me to go. The other way thru the Indian Reservation and on the seldom traveled US-64 wasn't really designed for big rigs, but it sure was an interesting and pretty route.

Here is a little visitor to the C&TS from Hawaii that I saw at that time. #5 sure was a cute little thing wasn't she? That is also the only opportunity that I had to ever visit that wonderful narrow gauge hobby shop that used to be in Chama. Wasn't it called "PBL"?

Con

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It was indeed PBL, sorta the birthplace of Sn3 thanks to Bill Peters and that's a neat picture
especially considering that the locomotive spent most of it's time north of the engine house
in "kit" form.

And just for the record, here's a view of the engine from the other side, taken July 17, 1977 outside the Chama roundhouse.

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Can anyone provide the details of how this lil cutie came to the C&TS? How long was it there? When did it leave and where is it now?

Is T. T. C. & P. "Tahoe, Trout Creek and Pacific"? As I recall it was a "hobby" line or a tourist railway in the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento.

It was a short tourist railroad that ran for one season at Lake Tahoe.

Martin

RealSteam Wrote:
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> Can anyone provide the details of how this lil
> cutie came to the C&TS? How long was it there?
> When did it leave and where is it now?

Bob Keller, the owner of the No. 5, became the first operator of the C&TS in 1971, which prompted him to shut down the fledgling Lake Tahoe operation and take the No. 5 with him. The locomotive operated there once for a brief movie appearance, but spent the majority of its time in Chama sitting beside the shop. It remained there into the early '80s, then passed through a succession of owners before eventually finding its way into the hands of its current custodian. The No. 5 is presently on long-term loan to the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association in Kent, Connecticut, where it operates one or two weekends each year. It received a new, all-welded ASME boiler and tender tank built by John Greco back in '70-71, and received a second major rebuilding prior to Railfair '99.

Posting for a friend:

Rick Brower of South Lake Tahoe, CA has a complete history of the TTC&P and 99% on #5 but is looking for more information.
He is looking for Dick Cook who worked on the TTC&P. Rick's email is rbbrower@juno.com if you can help. Also looking for any literature or advertising for the line.