2009 Work Session M1/M2

The Friends are helping the Montana Historical Commission (MHC) out at Alder Gulch Shortline, a 30-inch narrow gauge tourist railroad now owned by the State of Montana. In return for the Friends’ volunteer labor, the Friends will receive the long term loan of narrow gauge trucks and wheelsets that are the correct ones for the tank cars at Chama. Five trucks and six wheelsets were “spares” that were sitting together on one track. In this photo you can see a tree stump just behind the frontmost wheelset. The size of the cottonwood tree that had grown up through this truck between the axle and bolster is evidence that these trucks and wheelsets had been sitting undisturbed on this track for several decades. One of our first tasks was to cut off this stump closer to the ground so these two trucks could be rolled west on this track for loading. Photo by Roger Breeding.