Steam & Excursion > Dad the the Narrow Gauge

My father (Jerry Pitzen) will be 80 this November and for years my brother and I kept trying to make plans to take him to see the NG in Colorado.  After many years of failed plans I made a point to take him this past May as he's not gettting any younger and getting around isn't getting any easier.  My Father is not one to share his deep personal feelings too often so he surprised me at dinner after our first ride on the D&SNGRR.  He told me that while we watched the first train depart that morning it brought tears to his eye and relayed his first introduction to the D&RG narrow gauge which was at the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair.   There he watched D&RG 268 run up and down the small stretch of track and he was hooked at 9 years old. 
My Father in a few different capacities had a career with 3 different RR entities over 50 years (C&NW, RTA, and finally Metra) majority of which was in the Engineering Dept.  There's a lot more to his story with the RR's but my main point was to share this still from the video I was shooting that "tears of joy" morning.   It's not great since it's a still from video but I thought I'd share a bit of good times here on the Steam Board.  
1. Dad in his moment.
2. Dad admiring the C&TSRR locomotives.
3. 315 on our doubleheader on opening day 2019.

Thanks for looking,

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MT-
Excellent post and images! Glad you got to enjoy the trip with your father.

Thanks Kevin! 

 

So glad you got to see the D&S and the C&TS.  Both are treasure troves of steam, and great action.   Lots of grades and stack talk.  Best steam in America on a daily basis is out of Durango, Chama, and Antonito.
Greg Scholl
http://www.gregschollvideo.com

Very nice story and photos.  Bob

It's really nice to see a post that involves love of family members and joy in railroading.  Thanks MT.  We see too much other stuff here.

Great story and it's good your Dad enjoyed it.  My parents and I went to both RR fairs and I still remember the narrow gauge.  I was 9 and Dad was a Frisco engineer and we had a ball looking at the different power on display.  He loved steam and loved running it.  I've been told he was a great engineer to fire for.
We took him on a couple of 4960 trips out of St. Louis and he totally enjoyed it.  He pulled some secret brotherhood stuff and Dad, my future wife and I rode in the cab on a runby. We stood in the recorder car right in back of the engine and he was telling me what the engineer was doing, how he had it hooked up, etc.  I think I absorbed a lot more than I thought as I was always comfortable when running 1522.  I only wish he had still been around and be the kid in the candy store.  He loved the 1500s.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story with us, Chris— it made my morning to read it, too!
So glad you and your brother could take your dad to the narrow gauge and that it moved him so much to where he could see ol’ 268 in his mind’s eye from that long ago ‘49 Chicago rail fair. My old Condr, the late Ron Keesling, was also there and would share his memories of it with me from time to time.
Tell your dad, your Uncle and bro hello from me— great times on the 1003 trip in 2015 w/ y’all, too.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/19 08:44 by IC_2024.

Nice pics!!