Nostalgia & History > Scouts heading to Philmont in 1968

Recently, there have been a few threads talking about Boy Scouts riding the train to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I am sharing a few shots I took of my trip there in 1968. We didn't ride the Santa Fe, however; we rode the Burlington's Denver Zephyr and then bussed from Denver to Philmont. We took a bus from Wilmington, Ohio, to Chicago on June 30 to board the train. It was a hot day and our car was very hot. On top of that, we left about 90 minutes late. Because of the heat, the Dutch doors were left open in our car. That was pretty much where I spent my time on the first evening. My only break was when we went to dinner. One regret I have now is that I didn't take any pictures from this vantage point although with my cheap Instamatic, I doubt the pictures would have been that great. Here are a few train-related shots that I got.

1 -- Outside Chicago Union Station
2 -- Settling into our coach
3 -- Arriving in Denver the following morning. Because of our late arrival, a trip to the Garden of the Gods had to be scrapped, but we did stop at the Air Force Academy for a brief tour and lunch.
4 -- Souvenier ticket stub
5 -- On the way back to Denver, we went up on Pike's Peak and took the Pike's Peak Railway cog train down. Check out the guy at the end of the track.
6 -- Finally, on our way home looking out the rear of the dome car somwhere in eastern Colorado or western Nebraska. Sorry for the poor quality.
All in all, it was a great trip.

Kim Heusel

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Last three shots.

Kim Heusel

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What precious memories! I was in the Boy Scouts in the 60s, but my troop never got an opportunity to go to Philmont. I wonder how many of your pictured scouts are now in their retirement years, bouncing grandkids of their knees...

Lance

Great photos, thanks for posting them.

I love the Instamatic camera one of the scouts was using. And the Indian head scarf thing in the first shot. Imagine the uproar if people were wearing those today.

Great memories.   I was a Star Scout in the mid-60's....but in early 68 my friends and I were asked to leave the troop....Too interested in woman and causing trouble... LOL....
I had one of those instamatic's too...Great camera for the era......

So let's see, hot car, late train...hmmm not much had changed. 

santafe199 Wrote:
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> I wonder how many of your pictured
> scouts are now in their retirement years, bouncing
> grandkids of their knees...
>
> Lance

Probably all of them! You had to be at least 14 to make the trip. I was 14 that year, so you can do the math and figure out how old I am now. So everyone on the trip was at least 14 and many of them older than that.

Kim Heusel

KimHeusel Wrote: > ... Probably all of them ...

(chuckling!!!) Not-so-fast, grandpa... I'm a prefect example of those who made it to the gray-haired, leisure years without having the pre-requisite kids that cause the gray hair in the first place. :^)

Lance

That's really great!  The original Chicago Union Station concourse with the new twin Riverside plaza buildings in the background, recently constructed in 1965!

No need to apologize for the quality of the photos.  Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks for sharing your photos and memories.

Posted from iPhone

I made the trek with my Troop in 1966. We took a Milwaukee commuter train from Libertyville into Chicago, then marched over to Dearborn to get the Santa Fe to Raton. On the  return trip, the conductor gave us free reign on some unsold sleeper space.It was a great trip.

Is that guy at the end of the track mooning?