Chapter Notes: Leaving Montana (Destination Unknown) · 12:18am Dec 31st, 2021
Sooner or later, Sweetsong has to get over the mountains if she wants to keep going west. It’s a mixed blessing; while she’s past the speedy railroad mainlines of the Midwest, now she’s got more scenery and fewer people who might spot her.
Having been on that route myself, I can say that it’s gorgeous.
Special thanks to AlwaysDressesInStyle for pre-reading!
Guilford Transportation Industries was founded in 1981 with the purchase of the bankrupt Maine Central, followed by several others (B&M, D&H) and big plans to expand their system all the way from the Northeast to St. Louis . . . which they didn’t.
Since many of their properties kept their old names, Guilford Transportation Industries might not be a name you’d know or recognize. In 2006, with that thought in mind, an interest in defunct airlines, or a weird publicity stunt, Guilford—who had already bought the name, colors, and logo of Pan Am (Pan American World Airways)—changed their name to Pan Am Railways and painted at least some rolling stock in a Pan Am paint scheme. Also some locomotives*.
Which, you gotta admit, is a pretty cool scheme. I’ve never seen one in the wild, but saw pictures about as quickly as the first one showed up.
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I didn’t know they’d painted locomotives until I was looking for boxcar pictures. It doesn’t surprise me that they did; usually locomotives are the face of the railroad and the railcars are just ‘whatever.’
You won’t be surprised to know that both Alibi Lounge and WOK N ROLL exist in Shelby (in fact, they’re practically across the street from each other). I wasn’t gonna mention that in the blog post (since those of you who read these types of stories of mine know that I tend to do as much research as I can with places and attractions), except that I was pre-reading a story for Georg just yesterday, and it has a taco restaurant with a name in league with WOK N ROLL. I won’t spoil his restaurant. 
In case you were wondering, the Flyin’ Hawaiian pizza has nacho cheese sauce, BBQ chicken, pineapple, and mozzerella and is, in my opinion, not the strangest pizza they have on their menu. I leave it up to y’all in the comments to debate on the morality of a pegasus eating chicken or if pineapple belongs on a pizza.
Also interesting is Champions Park. I was trying to figure that out from satellite view and street view (which was before the park was finished). You gotta go to their website to get the full story, but in a nutshell Shelby famously hosted a boxing match there in 1923, paid a boatload of money to get the fighters there, built a 40,000 seat outdoor arena a few weeks before the match was to come to town. . . .
Incidentally, the website has (in the form of interpretive pictures which you can’t read on the site itself) a history of how Shelby was founded; in a nutshell the Great Northern Railroad found Marias Pass (nearby), and during construction of the railroad also founded the town of “Shelby Junction” east of the pass which is, of course, modern-day Shelby. Apparently, Marias Pass is the easiest pass across the Rockies in the US. Currently, the BNSF owns it, and it’s the Hi-Line Subdivision.
Because railroad lingo is sometimes confusing, ditch lights referred to one type of light on a locomotive, and then a different type of light which served a different purpose. The first type were lights under the cab that pointed down at the railbed below the front trucks (wheels, springs, brakes, etc.). Their purpose was so that a crew could look down at night and see if the train was moving or not . . . I would imagine at night if you were starting a train, it would be very hard to tell if you were actually moving or just making holes in the rails.
Sometime in the 80s or 90s (I don’t remember exactly), the Federal Railroad Administration decided that they should Do Something about all the cars that were yeeting themselves in front of trains, and while making drivers less stupid isn’t in the agency’s power, making trains easier to see was. They found that with just a single headlight (the typical arrangement at the time) it was hard for the driver of a car to estimate how far away the train was or how fast it was travelling, so they mandated a lower set of lights that flash side-to-side.
There had been other, non-mandated solutions to this problem over the years, and one of my favorites is the Mars light. I’ve never seen one in operation, I think they only lasted until the 60s, but they were mechanical lights that made a figure-eight motion. Here’s a video of one in operation:
(The two white lights above the number boards are ‘class lights,’ and maybe someday if there’s demand I’ll tell you what those are for and why trains don’t have them any more.)
Trains don’t like going up and down any more than they have to, although of course natural geography doesn’t give them a choice in the matter. Aside from Kansas which science has (dubiously) shown is flatter than a pancake, most of the time the terrain undulates.
If you have a hill in your way, you can just cut a path through it, or if you have a valley you can just fill it—cuts and fills. And a smart construction crew balanced those out; while fill dirt isn’t terribly expensive, transporting it can be, so railroads often tried to build their lines in a way where they could keep grades and turns to a minimum, and use all the dirt they got from making cuts to build fills nearby.
Sometimes, it was cheaper to build a trestle and then fill it in later. And sometimes you had to build a tunnel, because in the 1800s it wasn’t practical to take the top off a mountain to make the trains have an easier route.
As trains got bigger (and taller), some of the old short tunnels were enlarged so modern trains could fit through them, and some of them were ‘daylighted,’ because with modern equipment you can take the top off a mountain to make a train go through it. Admittedly, this was usually done as a last resort; the railroads don’t care if the crew has to ride in the dark for a bit (or any pegasus hobos who happen to be aboard), but if the tunnel is already a maintenance headache, it might be cheaper to just take the roof off, rather than continue to maintain it as a tunnel.
And I will say that the reverse is also true; some subways and underground rail lines were constructed (and still are constructed) by digging a big pit where the tracks will go, then later filling in that pit and putting a street (usually) or whatever on top of it. Unfortunately, as far as I know, that construction technique is not referred to as ‘un-daylighting’ or ‘nightening’ a cut.
More’s the pity.
Tim’s Cascade Snacks Potato Chips are a regional brand (”In the shadow of the Cascades since 1986”). They have distinct red and white striped packages, and besides their standard flavors, they also offer limited-edition flavors. While it’s not currently offered (so don’t go out and try and buy them), they once did offer a flavor called Big & Bold Buffalo Blue which is appealingly alliterative.
For most people, C.W. McCall is known for one song: Convoy. Which is a shame, he had plenty of good ones. He did his research, too; I have been informed that the feed store at the base of Wolf Creek Pass really is (was?) there.
The Silverton C.W. McCall
The Durango and Silverton was opened in 1882 to transport gold and silver ore. It was narrow gauge (that’s cheaper to construct in the mountains), and they kept operating it until 1968. Some of it got sold to New Mexico and Colorado and is now the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad; the part from Durango and Silverton has been operated by steam continuously since 1881.
All of their operating steam locomotives are pushing a century of age, with the oldest having been built in 1923 and the newest in 1928. All of them are also original Denver and Rio Grande locomotives (the railroad who owned the Durango and Silverton line) which means that those locomotives have been in service on the same road for their entire lives.
Since I was talking (briefly) about subways, it felt like the right time to bring back this image we all know and love.
Spoiler, it’s not only a model.
I forgot I found an image of a real Pan Am boxcar.
The term you re looking for is "Cut and Cover"
Having weird feels right now. First airline I ever flew on was PanAm. The logo on a boxcar is bad enough, but on a loco... yeah... They ought to attach stubby little wings to it.
Good stuff.
Digging a giant trench, filling it with railroad or other infrastructure (water mains, electrical tunnels, sewers) then building a (usually) road covered lid over the whole thing is generally referred to as cut and cover. It's the primary method of construction for most of NYC's subway lines.
We had that record as kids. Played the hell out of it.
"C. W. McCall" was a character invented by a Wichita adman for a series of commercials for Old Home bread. He voiced the character and it went viral (back when people still used rotary phones).
And I've ridden the Silverton. To get to it you have to go over Wolf Creek Pass. It's just like the song says.
"it felt like the right item to bring"
Right time, did you mean? Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm not sure just what you mean.
What's only a model?5622313
Oh. :D
And it may have taken me a bit to get to this, but as usual, thank you for writing, chapter and blog post both! :)
Pineapple does belong on pizza, but only in combination with certain ingredients.
5622397
I know what the term is, but why didn’t they call it ‘nightening’ a cut?
5622399
Northwest Orient for me. Flew out of Detroit give or take before the Northwest flight crashed there, as it happens. Never was on Pan Am and now I guess I never will be.
The right kind of locomotive sorta has wings . . . I can’t remember the model off the top of my head, but one of the GE locomotives had its protruding radiators referred to as wings.
5622441
thank you!
5622716
With modern machinery, it’s the easiest way for city infrastructure, too. And you don’t risk the street collapsing into the tunneling project below it, like happened in California back in the day.
Heck, with modern machinery it’s probably the cheapest way, too, if you can. But of course you can’t cut and cover your way under a mountain or a river.
5623882
I’m a youngun and only had it on cassette back in the day.
Huh, I didn’t know that.
And there really is (or was) a feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs.
5624859
Yes, indeed, that is what I meant. Thank you!
No worries, it took me a while to get to the comment replies, too
5627191
Thanks, and you're welcome. :)
Thanks. :)
Yes, Kansas is flatter than a pancake. Louisiana and Florida are even flatter, but they have trees, so one cannot tell.
5656073
Kansas has a tree. I’ve seen it!
5656228
I stand corrected.
This reminds me about when I 1st realized that we head for trouble:
I 2003, I opposed the invasion Of Iraq, as it had nothing to do with the attacks of 2001-09-11, and would surely create more enemies. I got into a heated discussion with a supporter of invading Iraq. I suggested that we each do our best to change each other's' minds. He stated that since neither of us would change our mind, it was a waste of time.
This said much about his closed mindedness, because if he could show that this would somehow make the world better, I would change my stance, but he just admitted that, even if I could show that the invasion of Iraq would generate more terrorists, he would still refuse to stop supporting it.
Since then, he have people insisting that Trump won, and that armed thugs attempting a coup are tourists. Truth just does not matter to some people any more.
I for 1, freely admit that I was wrong about the lack of trees in Kansas. I support truth, even at the cost of personal embarrassment. You sir, have changed my mind about trees in Kansas.
5627190
While Bill Fries was still employed as an adman, pre C.W.McCall, he also wrote and pitched Union Pacific's now famous songs, along with quite a few other popular jingles. He and Chip Davis, who did some of the music, had(or has for the latter) quite interesting lives and careers.
5666143
Interestingly, I did know that by the end of the story, and I think that I linked one of his UP songs . . . might be just a few chapters along. Seems like I learn something new from the comments on every story or blog.
5668533
Ya, I found that about two days later as I read on lol.
Oh, I should have noted it was Chip Davis of Manheim Steamroller, but maybe you mentioned that too later...
5668639
I think I did