More from the Roundup

Continuing from the previous post... The first day of the roundup, I was up again at dawn:30 getting the locomotives ready for the day, and coming to assist me was Hot Water LaRose. Both engines still had steam from the previous day and good 'ol Frankenporter had enough pressure to fire up without air. After steam was up, breakfast was served in the tractor shop by Belle Kope from Reedley. MMMMM Tasty! She brought over these mushrooms that were really good.

I was scheduled on the #1 and that put me behind the 8 ball immediately.


The 8 ball is something Phil always mentioned about to me and said would look great on the cylinder cock lever inside the #1. Well I found one at the local autoparts store.


You see, here at the Pacific Coast Railroad Company we have a motto we like to live by... Stay Safe & Have Fun. Well the #1 which had so much trouble the day before due to bad fuel and dirty feed water lines, ran flawlessly! She steamed well and sounded great with that bid ol' six chime SP cab forward whistle.

Take the time to go to the Bitter Creek & Western website to see the fine pictures that Jaime Foster took. He does an excellent job of capturing the personal side of our events.

I took turns in running and firing both the #1 and "Frankenporter" which was also running rather well. At the end of the day we swapped out our train and made up a freight double header. We took one run before dinner, then recreated the Emperor of the North with our own "Shack" GM Brad LaRose defying all rules and regulations to ride the top of the cars.

Russ Sperry photo

"Hot Water" was hog'n the helper with Harry boiling water. High Water Hovanitz and I had the road engine. We did all our communication by whistle signals this time, NO RADIO! What a sight! We had some fun and antics also which I won't mention... well Ok I will mention it. I backed off the throttle and let the helper try to pull the train around the "S" curve grade past the North Yard switch and poor ol' Frankenporter fell flat on its face. We all got a kick seeing the faces of Harry and Hot Water looking back at us with this puzzled look! I got the train started on the hill with just a bit of help from the #3.
Here is the train coming around Vineyard Hill in another Russ Sperry photo.


Here is another Russ Sperry photo of the crossing at Airstrip Station.


Well the fun of the double header came to an end all too soon. And it was time to put the locomotives to bed and get ready for day two.
Here is a timeless shot of a real beauty.


We finished up with a crew photo taken by Mojave Mike.


Looking back now, I don't think we could have asked for a better time at this years roundup. Everything went smoothly. We had an AWESOME crew, and the trains ran the best ever.

I want to thank Phil and Karell Reader for the opportunity to do this, they are special friends. And I really want to thank Cookie & Patti for allowing me to have a place to shower, and relax after a long hard day! I really put Cookie through his paces the next morning as he learned to hostle and fire the locomotives! Also a big thanks to Harry & Mary, Karl, Bryce (A-1 dispatcher), Hot Rod and Belle Kope. Everyone sure takes good care of me when I come to the railroad, and I am very greatful.

Well I will do an update soon again with the final pictures from the last day and of course we will do some backhead cooking with the Iron Horse Chef! Till then...