And now, for something completely different...
Here is the amazing story - never before told - of the Golden Nugget Ranch and their famous spring stock drive.
Note to parents: this story is family-friendly, but it includes some humor and images that may not be appropriate for very young children. Parents are cautioned to review the entire story before sharing it with their children.
In spring, the Golden Nugget Ranch sends its livestock for shipment in a classic drive reminiscent of cattle drives of the old west. The stock will be driven to the A-OK corral in San Lorenzo, Arizona, where it will be loaded into stock cars and shipped to El Paso, Texas. Here we see Chuckawalla Slim and his jackalope sidekick, Rocky, settling in to observe the annual spring ‘stock rush’ from the cool shade of the ramada.
The stock will be herded down San Lorenzo’s Main Street, and the event will provide an excuse for some partying and revelry for cowboys, miners, pistoleros and ne’er-do-wells on the night the drive reaches town. The rush was delayed and will come to town late Saturday, meaning the celebration will be more robust. There is a sense of anticipation in the sleepy little town, which doesn’t see much excitement.
A pair of cowboys ride over to the A-OK Corral just to make sure everything in the corral is, well, A-OK. Even in late March, it’s already becoming a warm day in the Arizona sun.
That night, Chuckawalla Slim didn't sleep well, and he had the strangest dream...
Sunday morning, Chuckawalla Slim awoke bleary-eyed to find the corral full of GIANT BABY CHICKS!
The stock rush had made its way down the dusty main street of San Lorenzo, to the entertainment of townsfolk:
What in the world is going in here? Has the whole town been drinking a bad batch of tequila? Has everyone in the desert gone ‘loco en la cabeza’? Is the sun playing tricks on both eye and camera? Has the guy running this model railroad finally gone nuts?
Monday morning, the chicks were rousted and loaded in stock cars for the long journey east:
Unfortunately, there’s always some hot dog in the group who has to show off. This chick decided to take a dip in the water trough. Inga, the Director of Quality Control, is trying to persuade the wayward chick to get in the last car:
Finally, all of the chicks were loaded and accounted for, except one:
It seems one of the chicks had hopped the fence into the nearby locomotive service area, and got plucked by a Porter. The engineer sits in the cab, distraught, as railroad employees take in the grisly scene.
Unaware of the tragic end of one of their own, the chicks look bright and chipper. They are very excited to be taking their first (and only) road trip to El Paso:
A stock special was called for the shipment, including a drover’s caboose bringing up the rear. Here they are leaving San Lorenzo eastbound, on their way to Clifton:
The chicks will be transferred to the Arizona & New Mexico in Clifton, then to the standard gauge Southern Pacific in Lordsburg, New Mexico, for their final leg to El Paso. Once there , they will be kept on a feed lot through summer to be fattened up. Then, it’s a short trip to a big factory next door, where they will become...
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...wait for it...
...jumbo-sized, mesquite-grilled CHICKEN NUGGETS!
Golden Nugget Ranch brand jumbo chicken nuggets would have been a hit today, but unfortunately they were 80 years ahead of the market for processed chicken. This was to be the only drive of ‘los pollos pequeños’, but was a legend remembered by locals and ranchers in the region for generations.
Now, that’s a story you can sink your teeth into...pass the barbecue sauce, and VIVA EL POLLO! I hope you have enjoyed this 'Tall Tale', it's good now and then to step back from the serious side of modeling and just 'have fun with trains!'
(A tip of my hat to Chick-Fil-A in Deer Valley (north Phoenix) for the incredible find of a ‘chicken nugget with legs’ AFTER I began working on this story, and to my lovely wife for donating these delicious chicken nuggets to posterity!)
