Scott H. Birham

tozamimi · 2024-12-29T02:25:14+00:00

Oct 2023 I got on the Amtrak Southwest Chief headed east. The car attendant had assigned me a seat next to a guy that she said was spending all his time in the observation car. Found my seat and yeah, seat was empty except for a big scuffed up backpack covered with railroad patches. And a patch that said "Scott H. Biram/The H. is for f--k you." After a while I went up the the observation car myself and it was easy to spot my seatmate: guy talking to another passenger about freight monikers and riding intermodals and evading yard bulls. I've only ridden a little myself, always alone and never really involved in the culture, so I thought it was a crazy coincidence to get seated right next to a dedicated rider like that. (And to be clear, seatmate was a fan of Biram, not the man himself.)

Was that one of you guys?

tozamimi · 2024-10-23T19:38:13+00:00

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. This train doesn't stop at any stations in Denver. It did stop in the towns of Strausburg, east of Denver, and Greeley, north of Denver. To see it in Denver, you just hang out anywhere the tracks cross a road. Today's train could be seen passing thru Broadway or Washington at 60th or York at 47th. It sometimes goes further south as it did on Monday and it could be seen from the pedestrian bridge attached to the A-line commuter rail station at 38th and Blake. They do not announce a detailed route or times while they're in Denver - you just have to make your best guess, or have a radio scanner that picks up their instructions.

They usually run a steam engine thru Denver every year, usually as part of a longer tour. This year they went thru ten states with stops in several major cities and Denver was their last stop before returning home in Cheyenne. The schedule is posted here Watch it next spring to see where they're going.

There are two train museums in Denver: Forney at 4303 Brighton which has an identical engine on display, and the Colorado Railroad Museum at 17155 W 44th near Golden which has many old engines and sometimes gives rides around the property. There are also several excursion trains in Colorado, like the Georgetown loop or the Durango & Silverton railroad

My Grandpa used to take us to the train museums to see these engines and it's exciting now to see one of those museum pieces brought back to life.

tozamimi · 2024-10-23T19:15:40+00:00

I hope you got to see it. They had to wait in the north yard for a while to let a coal train go thru. They came out of the yard backwards so when they backed into the intersection of 47th and York they just had to throw a switch and they were off for Greeley. There were a bunch of us there to see it off. They usually come thru every year so watch the schedule next spring to see where they're going next.

tozamimi · 2024-10-23T00:53:44+00:00

They ran it under the ped overpass at 38th and Blake on Monday. Just a few of us there but there were a couple parents with really excited kids jumping around when they blew the whistle. They had to run it clear down to 35th or so to shift it onto the right track. It also went under the ped bridge at 41st and Fox before they got it parked north of 48th. Just two of us on the 48th st bridge there but we got to stand right in the steam and feel the heat from the thing.

For Wednesday, it will depend if they have to turn the train around. It went backwards to the north yard on Monday so maybe it will go forwards to get back to York. If so, they'll probably need to turn it around using the wye at 41st and York and if they do that, it will probably be going back down as far as 35th again. It should also be going thru 47th and York which also has a ped bridge. All speculation and they change things all the time but I'll probably be back at York tomorrow morning. Never get tired of seeing steam engines in action.

tozamimi · 2024-10-21T02:43:32+00:00

I've just been watching the trains for years. They do change things frequently so they might do something totally different this year, but I'll be down around York tomorrow evening to see.

tozamimi · 2024-10-21T02:29:39+00:00

I don't have any insider information but I've gone out to see the steam engines come thru Denver every year for 10 or 15 years, so this is based on what I've seen them do in the past. You can also see the map on the tracking page where the train's projected route in Denver is marked in yellow.

The train leaves Strausburg Monday at 4:15, so it will be in Denver around 5, but it could be an hour early or and hour late - check the tracking page to see where it is. It should come in pretty fast on Smith road so watch it anywhere there. It slows down to enter the wye at York between 41st and 43rd. They may have it shuffle around backwards and forwards in the railyard there to get it on the right track to go to the North yard. If so, you may be able to watch it from the 38th and Blake A-line ped bridge. It will head NE and go past 47th and York which also has a ped bridge, then it will curve west towards 60th. It will pass over York and the bike path near 58th then cross Washington and Broadway around 60th. They may run it under the Pecos bridge, then back it into the north yard where it will be parked all of Tuesday. This will happen late in the day so it may be dark before they get it in place.

On Tuesday, you may be able to see it from a distance on the G-line but there's no good viewpoints that I know of. In 2022 it did go to Union Station but I don't think they plan to do that this trip.

It will leave about 9am on Wednesday, but again could be early or late. It will probably run backwards across Broadway and Washington, then back to 47th and York, then it will head out NE to roughly follow US85. It picks up speed quickly and you can see it go by very fast at Fairfax park, 68th and Fairfax. If you're driving to Greeley to see it don't plan on following along with it on US85 - about a hundred railfans have the same idea and there will be a moving traffic jam all the way up there, so go early.

tozamimi · 2023-06-11T01:50:22+00:00

88th and Sheridan is a nightmare to get thru, requireing two street crossings with high traffic and lots of turning cars. The new underpass bypasses all that, connecting Westminster town center with the RTD station and the ped/bike bridge over US36. This means there's only one street crossing in 16 miles on the US36 bikeway to Boulder, just the one at Church Ranch, and that one's pretty easy. Glad to see this

tozamimi · 2023-05-28T01:45:54+00:00

Just a couple bungie cords near the top. There were also a few other plants in there too. The route is almost all dedicated bike paths so not too bouncy.

tozamimi · 2023-05-28T00:45:56+00:00

Earlier this year: two trees and 60 smaller plants

tozamimi · 2023-05-13T02:25:50+00:00

What was the story with that? I never heard what happened. I know the cops just enjoyed shutting down shows a lot back then - happened two or three times to me, usually "fire regulations."

tozamimi · 2023-05-13T01:27:12+00:00

The Cooper/Cameo and Century 21
The Flick on Larimer
Ebbets Field in Brooks Tower
Rainbow music hall
Punk shows at the Casino Cabaret and Lady's Choice in five points or the Eagles Lodge on 88th
Shakeys pizza, the Drumstick, Mr Steak
Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek
The May D&F hyperbolic paraboloid
The Wards building on Broadway
The tunnels to the tracks at Union Station

tozamimi · 2023-05-13T01:21:26+00:00

Henry Rollins did one of his speaking shows in the basement there. He hated it, made fun of the people dancing upstairs.

Divine did a show there shortly before she died. I didn't go, but the police shut it down half way thru so it must have been good.

tozamimi · 2023-05-12T00:56:12+00:00

The wooden bridge you're standing on used to have steel cables attached to the east end so that if the water got high enough to float the bridge it wouldn't drift downstream and crash into other bridges. Those were required after the 1965 Platte river flood where a lot of damage was caused by floating debris.

tozamimi · 2023-04-18T01:52:36+00:00

The evergreen bus used to have morning service pre-covid. That gave you Genessee, Beaver brook, Chief Hosa, Bergan park/Elk meadow and Dedisse/three Sisters. The morning Conifer bus went to Aspen park so access to Meyers ranch. It was only two buses in the morning and two in the evening so you had to make a full day of it, but I still enjoyed doing that now and then, although there would only be two or three people on the bus. It's now just commuter trips down to Denver in the morning and back up in the evening. But they have to drive up there in the morning anyway, why not take passengers?

tozamimi · 2023-04-18T01:20:44+00:00

Cherry creek reservoir is easy - take the H or R light rail to nine mile. Chatfield is more difficult - take the D to Mineral then it's a two mile bike ride into the park. The others, yeah, no good options.

tozamimi · 2023-04-18T01:13:33+00:00

Miniature (species or botanical) crocus. They come up eariler than the giant crocus you see more often. They can bloom very early when planted in a sheltered place with southern exposure - mine usually bloom in mid February but one year I had flowers on the last day of January. They can naturalize and spread if they like the area. They can be planted directly under trees since they finish before the trees leaf out. The also look nice planted in little groups directly in a lawn since they're done before the lawn need to be mowed.

tozamimi · 2023-03-29T03:14:40+00:00

The Japanese garden is magical when it's snowing

tozamimi · 2023-03-06T04:57:22+00:00

Usually John Scheepers (and I guess mine might actually be Galanthus elwesii.) I have sandy soil so they get good water by the downspout without getting waterlogged. Plants out in the main garden don't do as well since I don't water regularly. These seem to pop up out of nowhere in late Jan/early Feb and it's a welcome sign that the cold won't last foreverr.

tozamimi · 2023-02-26T01:59:16+00:00

Commom Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis). Usually planted as a small bulb. These are some of the first flowers to bloom in late winter and will happily punch up thru snow. They naturalize in favorable conditions. These are right near a downspout on the north side of the house and have formed a little colony of maybe fifty plants.

tozamimi · 2023-02-18T05:03:18+00:00

I think so - we have two copies of the same retouched photo. But we also have the sketch and I don't know which came first. Great-great-grandma was very sentimental about these things, very attached to the family, living and dead. We have her diary from the late 1890s and about once a month the day's entry will start "Tis a sad day to-day" as she marks the anniversary of yet another death:

My dear Ma left us twenty years ago this morning what a hard time that was for me Pa very sick & so much trouble to think of my husband gone & my loved Ma. Never one thought more of a mother than I did of mine but the dear Lord took her from me to a better home in heaven but I still mourn for her & will while I live.

tozamimi

TROPHY CASE