Bragdon .. Bradgon siding the whole Thing in Tales of the Jointed Track

Okay, we are working a freight, LOL save me we are all freight. Loads south, Empties back. Or yer on a drag, a mish-mash of slough tonnage North or South. What is your call. Let’s see a few.

Bragdon is many things. What is the Mile posts ? Good question!!! Former Santa Fe ? Rio Grande? past and/or current?

Bragdon,CO … Past Present and Future:

Coming South, a CTC signal, is the block before this saying, Yellow, well you are stopping. Clear, or Green..for the Santa Fe/BNSF down the main, onto Pueblo. At Bragdon, CTC, Yellow, well again down the main-line, at stop at the South Switch. GRRRR… Somebody is switching Johns-Manville. Or they are holding you out of the yard. SHIT!! my thoughts.. I am tired want a dark motel room, and want to go to bed. A RED over YELLOW, well into the siding, restricting signal.
If you’re a Rio Grande.. RED over GREEN, lined into TAPP siding and into Pueblo, if they have a meet, a RED over FLASHING YELLOW, yer stopping at South TAPP.

Northbound, well off the Santa Fe, at the summit of Bragdon Hill, a Flashing YELLOW, meant yer stopping at the North switch Bragdon. A Double YELLOW says your lined, but how far? The South Signal will tell you. If YELLOW you are stopping at the north switch, before the crossover, or you’ll get a Yellow at the north end, and a possible stop at the North end of the Crossover. Are you prepared to stop? A Flashing YELLOW, at South Bragdon, you are lined through, a RED over GREEN at the north end and through the cross over. You have your train orders, etc… What is the north signal there at the entrance to the ABS ?

A Few Pictures:

We are waiting in the siding at Bragdon. Train the 594, or a 314 can’t remember. The cantilever signal bridge is gone. The far left signal head will give us instructions when lined out. Elvin Bethurum is the hogger, he always shut the head light out on meets.

Again at the south end of Bragdon in the siding. This shot around 530 to 630 am time frame. The GP-39-2’s are the new kids on the block. Wow aren’t we lucky up here on the Joint-Line!!. Notice the jointed rail. Due to bad ties, etc 10 mph, you met here as you needed to. Must of had a Rio Grande behind us, and we fit. So to Tapp they went. And we met one or more northbound.

Extra ATSF 5177 north, at the Crossovers at North Bragdon proper. To the right, the “Pit Wall” for Beacon Hill Speedway

One of those early morning meets, and get the hell out of the way, at Bragdon. It is Elvin again.. and I recognize him in the “seat”. Looks like a grain Empty. Miss these days, when railroading was fun.

Okay you are at North Bragdon. How can I explain this? This is a “San Antonio” coal empty BN Symbol VV-093. I am stopped at signal on the southbound ABS main. He is taking the crossover to the northbound. 10 or more back, the three signal masts.. Nearest the train, is the main-line signal. The next to the left, is the northbound signal at Bragdon siding. The far left is access to Rio Grande Tapp. The Signal mast you are seeing is for south movement, from the Northbound main to CTC Bragdon to Pueblo. Notice the frost on the ties..yeah winter is closing in. The SP unit is on a power pool agreement with the BN and the former SP.

Meeting another northbound here. I climbed the signal mast at the entrance to North Bragdon, on the Santa Fe ABS/CTC. Dan Markley is the hogger on this one. See the points of the switch, heading through the crossover to the northbound. The access to Tapp is to the left .Season… I’d say late Ocober. Follow the train to the distance.. South Bragdon. A BN Coal empty, heading back to the Powder River.

There ya have it . Bragdon,CO eight miles North of Pueblo, our crew change.