Description

Our premiere of The Prospector was published in quarter 1 of 2001 calendar year and is a 32 pages issue featuring eight articles.

The first article Society Goals and Objectives by Williams, M. Keith talks about the Society creation, its goals and objectives to preserving, studying, and disseminating information about all aspects of the Denver & Rio Grande Western and modeling its operations, equipment, and structures. The Society seeks to balance the study and preservation of both narrow gauge and standard gauge history of the Denver & Rio Grande Western as well as its predecessors, including the Denver & Rio Grande, the Rio Grande Western, the Denver & Salt Lake, and the Rio Grande Southern.

In Remnants of the Rio Grande: Helper, by Dave Abeles recounts his trip to Helper, Utah, to see the last remaining Denver and Rio Grande Western SD40-T2 locomotives on the old Rio Grande mainline. The author describes their journey from Newark, NJ, to Salt Lake City, UT, and then to Helper, UT, passing through scenic landscapes and encountering several trains along the way. The author arrives at Helper at night and sees some of the locomotives in the morning.

In the third article Train Time in Montrose by Bob Webber, he shares images that are part of a group that set Montrose in a place in time; a time when the train played a vital role in the daily lives of small towns across the country showing the impact trains had on this small farming community. Newspapers, mail, express packages, milk, tourists, relatives and other commodities that made Montrose less isolated all arrived on the train.

On the Utah Lines That Palmer Built is a reprint from the D&RGW Green Light, Vol. 20, No. 3

In Modeling the D&RGW 65’ Mill Gondola in N Scale by Don Spencer, Don details a very simple conversion that is excellent for the first time kit basher. This conversion covers the 30170-30219 series built in the mid-sixties by Bethlehem Steel Company. Reference for this article came from the May 2001 Railroad Model Craftsman and the Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment by Jim Eager

In the Artifacts section advertising from the 1888 Rio Grande Tourist, Major Shadrach K. Hooper; D&RC s famed General Passenger Agent, introduced the 1888 edition of the Rio Grandes Tourist Handbook — an interesting perspective into the states served by the railroad, both in the descriptive lex/ and in the advertising.  Handbook

In Building PBL Sn3 High Side Gondolas by Tom Troughton, MMR, Tom uses article & photos describes his efforts to construct and modify four PBL High Side Gondola kits in Sn3 using sources like the .Narrow Gauge Pictorial Album

In the D&RGW Reference Data section we’ve included in this issue are: Rio Grande’s large capacity covered hoppers from the 1977 Equipment Catalog Illustrate excerpts from the 1966 MOW Standard Plans Book, including drawings for a Standard Section Tool House, the Standard Method of Locating and Marking Clearance Point, Standard Curve Markers, and Standard Cattle Guard and Wing Fences

To wrap up the issue there are two book reviews: A Ticket to Ride the Narrow Gauge  reviewed by Herbert Danneman A Century Plus Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981 reviewed by Robert E. Sloan