Reader Norm Delucchi sent this comment:

“Reading my copy of Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle – I questioned an item – going to my reference library I found that the SS Otto Mears (Hull # 2157) was built by Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond #2 Yard, Richmond, CA, not Matson Navigation of San Francisco as stated on page 90.”

Norm is correct. I might also note that in researching this, Wikipedia states that 2710 of these handy, easy-to-build cargo ships were built during the war years, not quite measuring up to the “over 3000″ on page 90. That still a lot of ships! Out of all these ships, only two are still seaworthy, the SS John W. Brown (pictured) and the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the latter being preserved as a memorial in San Francisco with occasional trips at sea. The SS Otto Mears itself was launched in 1943, sold private in 1947, and wrecked and scrapped in 1967.

How’s that for information in a book about railroads! Check out Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle: The Rio Grande Southern, the Ouray Branch of the D&RG and Otto Mears’ Silverton RR, in our catalog for $19.95 + shipping. You can be assured that Otto Mears was a railroad guy; it’s interesting to learn of the ship built twelve years after his death that was finally scrapped when Mears would have been 128 years old.

Railroad, Reader Comments

This paragraph about Mt. Sneffels Press’s book, Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle: The Rio Grande Southern, the Ouray Branch of the D&RG and Otto Mears’ Silverton RR, appears in the January 2010 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. You too can have your own copy by clicking on this link to our catalog. Click here to go to the Railroad Model Craftsman website.

Mt. Sneffels Press, Railroad

The Ridgway Railroad Museum’s book, Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle: The Rio Grande Southern, the Ouray Branch of the D&RG and Otto Mears’ Silverton RR, is earning plaudits from the magazines that follow narrow-gauge railroading.

From the NG&SL Gazette Review, Sept/Oct 2009:

This book describes three of the 3-foot gauge railroads that once ran in the Silverton, Ouray, and Ridgway areas of Colorado. There are stories, short histories of the area described, maps and black and white photos. These include “Ridgway Street Names,” “The Legacy of Robert M. Ridgway,” “The RGS Through Telegrams,” “Unusual Spikes on the RGS,” and an item about a runaway RGS flatcar. The book also describes the Ridgway Railroad Museum, and the narrow gauge equipment located there. Included are D&RGW Boxcar #3130, Stock Car #5574, and Drop Bottom Gondola #702. Articles also describe the restoration of Caboose #0575, Goose #4 and the re-creation of Motor #1. All great reading!

From the Colorado Railroad Journal, Sept 2009:

The 110-page volume contains 40 carefully researched short articles by seven museum members, along with 60 photographs, maps and drawings. The articles contain information available nowhere else. Some of the topics covered include history of each of the museum’s railcars, snow fighting on the narrow gauge, life working for the railroad, locations along the featured routes, the Corkscrew Gulch turntable, Ouray depot, water tanks on the narrow gauge, Ouray to Ironton by rail, the Ramona townsite affair, dispatcher’s train sheets, and many more.

Check out the book in our catalog.

Mt. Sneffels Press, Railroad, Reader Comments

Big smiles. That’s what describes the reception the new Ridgway Railroad Museum book received when I dropped off the copies that the printer had delivered the day before. The book, full of great stories and old-time b&w photos of various railroads in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado, is now available at the museum and also through our catalog. I put the “order now” button up last night and already had orders today. Check out the catalog and the book, Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle: The Rio Grande Southern, the Ouray Branch of the D&RG and Otto Mears’ Silverton RR. You’ll be delighted too!

Mt. Sneffels Press, Railroad

Mt. Sneffels Press is pleased to welcome the Ridgway Railroad Museum to its list of authors! Their new book, Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle, can now be ordered from the Mt. Sneffels Press catalog.
 
In the summer of 2005 the Ridgway Railroad Museum approached David Mullings, the editor and owner of The Ouray Plaindealer and The Ridgway Sun, with a proposal to write semi-monthly columns for these two newspapers on topics relating to the narrow gauge railroading history of Ouray County. David agreed and the first article was published in the Ouray Plaindealer in October of 2005. Over the past three and a half years more than 40 of these articles have now been published.
 
The authors of these articles, who are all active members of the Ridgway Railroad Museum, include Tom Hillhouse (retired corporate attorney and Vice president of the Ouray County Historical Society), Rodney Holloway (Ridgway Railroad Museum volunteer and too young to retire), Bonnie Koch (retired elementary teacher and Ridgway Railroad Museum Educational Coordinator), Keith Koch (retired high school teacher and National Model Railroad Association Master Modeler), Don Paulson (retired college professor and Curator of the Ouray County Museum), Jim Pettengill (retired geologist and freelance writer), and Karl Schaeffer (retired railroad mechanical engineer and President of the Ridgway Railroad Museum).
 
This book is a compilation of most of these newspaper articles, which have been edited from their original versions. Appropriate historic photos, contemporary photos, maps and railroad forms accompany the articles. See the Ridgway Railroad Museum website.

Our Authors, Railroad