by Forrest Whitman
Ed Quillen Catches the Westbound
Back in my brakeman days we’d say: “He caught the westbound.” That feels right for Ed, because he was a rail guy. Of course he was many other things which will be written about in this issue of Colorado Central. We’ll remember him especially as a loving, humorous and involved husband and father. He will be remembered as the crucial publicist for The Colorado Trail, as a great Colorado historian, a progressive columnist, founder of this very magazine, curmudgeon (never really true), definer of Colorado’s red zones as “stupid zones,” and above all really funny writer. But, I’ll remember him as a rail guy.
Ed Knew the Rails to the Past
Many a day Ed and I walked those “out of service” tracks through Salida or out by Cleora, and reminisced about the rails past. Often the wind bit us hard, but Ed always managed to roll one of those smelly cigarettes and I always managed to come up with some brakie’s tale or other. We both laughed about how we used to set rail torpedoes just to raise hell with the nasty guys running behind us to slow them to 15 m.p.h..
Our dogs loved those walks and taught each other the things dogs do. Bodie, Ed’s dog, taught Gus how to chase cars, and Gus taught Bodie how to scavenge for smelly deer carcases. As Ed said, “Next thing you know they’ll be smoking behind the school house.” We traced many old rail lines like the Denver, South Park and Pacific, or the original D. & R. G. W. over Marshall Pass. We especially liked hiking to the barrel dump where the narrow gauge limestone cars from Monarch quarry were rolled and dumped into the D. & R. G. W. standard gauge gondolas. We both loved the fact that great rail writer E.M. Frimbo’s ashes were scattered atop Cumbres Pass. We drank a toast to the old boy at the Victoria Tavern. Ed was one fine rail historian.
Rails to the Future
We enjoyed the rails past, but we both believed passenger rail would be great for the future. The new high speed line building now from L.A. to Vegas seemed exciting. Ed felt that progressive politics were not dead despite the big money in what he called “the new feudalism.” Some of President Obama’s ideas for passenger rail might eventually take root. Conservatives will oppose new high speed rail, of course, but as Ed always said, “Conservative means having us all support only what they like, so ignore ‘em.”
Almost the first thing Ed told me, after he and Martha got back from visiting Abby and Columbine and their families recently, was about the thriving rail passenger business in the northwest. Of course he had a track report. He loved to hate the U.P. for pulling out of the old main line through Salida, but he had to concede their West Coast track was fine. Alas, my old road, (The Burlington) was a heck of a rough rider according to Ed.
We tried out tourist rails too and he was sure they would be part of the future rail picture. Once we caught the San Luis and Rio Grande from Alamosa to La Veta thanks to Matt Abbey. The regular seats were full, but we rode the RPO and fed the little coal stove in there. Despite a few chilly moments it was super. In fact, Ed fed the stove in my home caboose one night after a glass or two of Old Overshoes (Old Overholt). He reluctantly conceded that my work on the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority was useful, though we had some spirited debates about high speed feasibility in the Rocky Mountains. Regardless, Ed always looked to a rail future.
Where the Westbound Terminus Lies
We’d sometimes chant and hum the verses to the song Big Rock Candy Mountain as we stumped along some right of way. We did speculate about what happens at the terminus of that last westbound and agreed it had to be that very magic mountain. Remember that’s the place where the bluebird sings by the crystal spring. That’s where there’s a lake of gin and a lake of stew and you paddle around in a big canoe. As the song says: “I’ll see you all this comin’ fall on the big Rock Candy Mountain.”
