C&S Rotary 99201: C&Sng at the Colorado RR Museum video

The first piece of C&Sng equipment that I ever came across in my first visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum as a teenager was Rotary 99201.  The reason I saw it first was because it wasn't even inside the museum.  Instead, the giant snowplow was sitting on a Burlington Northern spur across the street from the CRRM entrance.  It remained there for many years until being brought inside the grounds along with a Union Pacific switcher.

This rotary is fascinating for many reasons. 

1. It was built for the famous Alpine Tunnel route, but it was found to be too large and heavy.  To my knowledge, no photos of a trip on that line with 99201 exist.

2. It was so large, in fact, that it could also be used to clear standard gauge routes.  The C&S simply switched out the running gear.  The 99201 was used out of locations such as Cheyenne, Wyoming.  

3. It plowed the last surviving stretch of the South Park Line, the standard gauged Leadville to Climax, Colorado branch.

4. While it was a steam powered machine it outlasted steam powered locomotives.  The Leadville to Climax branch was the last regularly-scheduled class 1 steam operation, using steam locomotives until 1962.  The coal-fired Rotary 99201, however, was still used for three more years being pushed by C&S diesels.

The following photos are from early 1990 visits to the museum.

A Burlington Northern freight rumbles past on the former C&Sng Clear Creek Line across the street from the museum.

99201 on the old spur across from the museum entrance.

99201 across the street

The Union Pacific 0-6-0 behind 99201.