The burning of Rome...uhhh...Bennett. With an inky black plume that would have impressed Lucius Beebe, White Pass Rotary #1 attacks a stubborn, 8 ft. drift of "Canadian Concrete" in front of the station building at Bennett, BC. It is not often you see historical photographs of a rotary in operation this close to a structure, like a station, so this scene is pretty unique. Although the drift was perhaps less than 100 ft. long, it took the rotary fleet the better part of 45 minutes to work their way through it. The train would make a charge, and snow would fly all over the place at the point of impact. For a few seconds, Old Number 1 would be throwing snow 100 ft. or more and then....she'd stall. One blast of the whistle from the Rotary Pilot would signal the pusher engines to stop. Three more blasts would signal a reverse move, and all of the Engineers on the pushers would respond in kind. Then, two toots from the rotary, and the process would begin again. The train made thrust after thrust. At times, the big, heavy rotary....it weighs more than a locomotive....would shudder and hop as it impacted the wall of snow. Several times, it looked like the pushers would derail it altogether, but these folks knew what they were doing and they knew when to say "when." It was quite a spectacle and one I'll never forget. If you're looking for the greatest show on rails, you can't beat a steam rotary in action. When I returned from this trip, I was actually a bit bummed. How on earth am I ever going to top this?, I wondered. I am still wondering.
