Newsgroups: rec.railroad

In rec.railroad, dgp0764@mcnews.mcdata.com (David Pitts) writes:

> >
> >I have a few questions about the Great Western Railroad (the part in 
> >Colorado).  
> >
> >1. How long has this been in existence?  Obviously it is an offshoot of the
> >BN but did it acquire its lines through the disposition of BN lines after
> >the BN merger in the early '70's?
> >
> 
> The Great Western Railway was started in 1901 to provide sugar beets to the 
> Great Western Sugar factory in Loveland, CO and grew to connect other factories

The Great Western Sugar Company had beet sugar mills in Longmont, Winsor, Eaton,Johnstown, and Loveland that the railroad connected with.

> in other towns. It was directly owned by the sugar company but was run as a
> common carrier.  It was never owned or operated by the BN. It does interchange
> with the BN at Loveland, Longmont and Windsor. It also interchanges with the UP
> at Kelum and Milliken. When the sugar company went bankrupt the railroad was

      ^   Officer Junction near Kelim.

> spun off as a separate company to fend for itself. It is now owned by the Broe 
> Company of Denver. 
> 
> >
> >2. Is their paint scheme similar to BN's for any particular reason (i.e. is
> >it partially controlled by BN)?
> >
> 
> The scheme was chosen for its simplicity. The GWR is NOT controlled in any 
> way by the BN.
> 
> >
> >3. Why is there a rabbit on the short hood?  Is this something like the state
> >bird of Colorado? :)             
> >
> 
> The Jackrabbit is not the state bird. But is a commonly seen animal on the
> plains of eastern Colorado. (However, as you near the former nuke power plant
> at St. Vrain they mutate into Jackalopes :-) Anyway, a former president of GWR
> liked the Jackrabbits and made up a logo to symbolize "Fast Freight". With a
> change in administration "He rode out of town on the rabbit". Newly repainted

Former General Manager Pete Ascher was the one who came up with the jack rabbit
in the logo and the both of them were litteraly run out of town on a rail by
the owner of the line, Pat Broe. The current GM is a friend of mine, Dave
Lafferty who was a former engineer on this line and had previously worked
on the Norfolk and Western.

> units do not have the rabbit logo.
> 
> >
> >4. What happened to all of the sugar beet cars they used to have and why did
> >the sugar beet business crash so bad?
> >
> 
> They were sold for scrap. The sugar business went sour because the Bunker Hunt

Not Quite, alot of them are being used by the Andesite Rock Company who runs
their rock trains over the UP from Carr to Aurora, Colorado to supply curshed
rock for the new airport being built in Denver.
	As to what made the sugar industry crash, only the GW crashed because 
the Hunt brothers milked it dry to cover some of their other losses. Shortly 
before the company went bankrupt it recived millions in low intrest government
loans on which it defaulted. The Loveland factory is now being demolished for
it's scrap metal but the Greely factory is being operated by the Western Sugar
Company which is in reality the re-organized Great Western Sugar Company and
still uses the GW logo on it's product.

> brothers (Remember they tried to corner the Silver market) tried to corner the
> domestic sugar business and failed. Foreign sugar, being government subsidised,
> could under cut US sugar makers. Also, the Colorado GW sugar factories were old
> and very expensive to operate. The storage silos at the factories in Loveland,
> Longmont and Eaton are still in use. It is cheaper to bring the sugar down from
> Idaho and Montana, where they have more modern factories, for storage than to
> build new silos up there.
> 
> >
> >5. Finally, how did they get a hold of the rights to serve the Coors brewery
> >in Golden?  I can't imagine that BN would give up the rights to a company
> >that ships about 90% of its product by rail!
> >
> 
> They don't have switching rights at the Coors brewery. The units are leased to
> Coors on an as needed basis. The BN does not switch the Coors brewery either,
> the switching is down by Coors employees. The Coors brewery has over twenty
> miles of track in the brewery complex and their own railroad. The brewery
> products are interchanged to the BN just west of the Colorado Railroad 
> Museum, stay on 44th street and you will cross the tracks between the BN
> Golden yards and the Coors interchange yard.
> 
> >
> >6. Oh, yeah.  One last question.  Anyone know the motive power roster of the 
> >GW?
> >
> 
> The roster changes quite a bit with units being bought, rebuilt in the Loveland

Quite correct. Their current operating roster consist of a few GP-7 & 9s'
from various roads. They also have an old Alco S2 switcher, The 1845, which
is affectionatly known as the "Leaky Leana" because it leaks every thing it
has in it from every place it possibly can. The current Master Mechanic of
this road is Chuck Drager. They frequently buy old diesels and fix them up
enough to sell to various industrial roads and short lines. I have helped 
them with eletrical repairs on their locomotives many times.

> shops and then sold or leased, like to Coors as stated above. Some of the
> units rebuilt and sold are now at the Ventura County Railroad in CA and the
> Texas Southern and Gulf (I think that was their name, the units are painted
> in a Red, White & Blue Lone Star scheme, VERY TEXAN). 
> 
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Paul Larsen
> >larsenp@mace.cc.purdue.edu
> >
> 
> Dave Pitts
> pitts@mcdata.com
> 303-460-4161

			Roger Mitchell
			Master Mechanic: Fort Collins Municipal Railway

Newsgroups: rec.railroad