Campfire Tales April 1997 Page 3

Page 3 of the APRIL 1997 ISSUE OF PASS PATROL CAMPFIRE TALES

The April issue included here contains the stories and not the advertisements. Keep in mind, the stories here were written in 1997.

This issue includes
Rollins Pass West Side

Willow Creek Ranch

ANOTHER OF THE MANY ADVENTURES OF PASS PATROL

ROLLINS PASS WEST SIDE - Campfire Tales - April, 1997

Rollins Pass and Corona

At the very top of Rollins Pass, a town named Corona was built to serve the train and for a while, the pass was frequently referred to as Corona Pass. In order to protect the tracks across the pass from winter snows, much of it was enclosed in snow sheds. Because the snow sheds were so extensive, exhaust from the trains was difficult to vent, creating coal gas. It was not uncommon for workers to pass out in the tunnels from asphyxiation.

Snow plows were built using train engines with rotary snow blowers to clear the tracks beyond the ends of the snow sheds. In one case, the brakes failed on a snow plow and it plunged down the cliff.

In the same area a train engine was swept over the edge by an avalanche. The sites of both wrecks are still clearly evident today.

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