Recreating an iconic RGS image. In February of 1942, the cover of Trains Magazine featured a very compelling photo of Rio Grande Southern 10-Wheeler #20, working hard as she helped a double-headed freight extra through a rocky cut on the Dallas Divide, not far from Ridgway, CO. The photo was made by William Moedinger and featured the train's Head Brakeman perched on the pilot of the 20, keeping a lookout for the rocks and other debris which were a frequent problem on that slide-prone section of the line. So, in August of 2021, when the restored RGS #20 made her first appearance on Colorado's Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, during a charter for none other than Trains Magazine, it was just about a certainty that we'd try to re-create that scene, even if it had to be a static shot, for obvious safety reasons.
The location picked for this shot was the famous Phantom Curve, at Milepost 312.3, which provided the canyon backdrop that we needed. The re-enactor provided by the Colorado State Railroad Museum to play the role of the Head Brakeman looked like he was fresh from Central Casting, and bearing a strong resemblance to the man in the iconic photo. About the only things I wish we could have added to this scene were some loose boulders to better simulate the rock-strewn RGS right-of-way, and of course, a lot more black smoke, as in the original scene, the 20 was clearly working hard.
