Re: #489 with Green JACKET, #483 in Tuscan Red

Hi, Roger -

(07/26): Somehow this post seems like "deja vu all over again" ...

(07/27): Ah-Yep, I thought so - see [ngdiscussion.net], which was first posted
Saturday afternoon, 07/25 ...

1) #489 is the only K-36 that is known to have had a green jacket while owned by the D&RGW.
She was painted in May, 1950, for a Rocky Mtn. RR Club excursion. A few of us are hoping
to raise funds to pay for the painting of #489 with an AUTHENTIC and HISTORIC green
jacket for the entire 2010 season in commemoration of her several months in a green
jacket during the late spring and summer of 1950. Please see [ngdiscussion.net] for some
photos of #489 as she appeared in May, 1950.

2) #483 was painted with a lot of ugly tuscan red paint for a movie filmed in September, 1968, after the last D&RGW freights had been run over Cumbres in August of that year. She was left in the two-tone black and tuscan red afterward, and was still black-and-tuscan in 1970 when the D&RGW turned her over to the two states. Ernie Robart replaced her flying Rio Grande lettering with "CUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RAILROAD" and added a "Toltec Gorge Route" logo on September 1, 1970. #483 pulled pushed the first C&TS work train into Chama on Sunday, Sept. 6, 1970, after several of us volunteers had cleared the track in the narrows and replaced a bent rail at the crossing north of town. (See pics below.)

It would be WONDERFUL if #489 could be painted two-tone black & tuscan (with gold trim!) and renumbered VERY TEMPORARILY (for obvious reasons) to stand in for #483 in a re-creation of this first train on Labor Day Weekend, 2010.

3) I do not know whether #463, or any of the K-27's, ever had a green jacket while in D&GRW service. It is possible that Baldwin delivered the K-27's with the green jackets customary at that time, but they were delivered with slope-back "switch-engine" tenders, and did not look at all like #463 does today since they were Vauclain Compounds with a pair of high- and low-pressure cylinders on each side, actuated by Stephenson valve gear:


I personally am NOT trying to raise ANY money for a green-jacketed K-27 at this time. Others are, of course, free to do so if they wish.

*****

I have already reserved four rooms with Barbara - one for myself for September 1-7, 2010, and three for speakers / entertainers for the Celebration, September 3-6  August 28-30, 2010.
(Two different musical groups - both with strong ties to railroading and who have sizable repertoires of railroad songs, have already made tentative commitments to attend. Ernie Robart will very likely be able to present slide shows in both Chama and Antonito - on different evenings - describing the resuscitation of the railroad in 1970-71, and I'm in touch with other possible presenters. No-one has yet jumped on my idea of the First Annual Chile John Pritchard Memorial Chili Cook-Off, but Labor Day late August 2010 is still several a few months away ... )

- Russ

*****

Pics of #483 in 1970 -

Ernie Robart re-lettering #483 on Sept. 1, 1970:


#483 switching at Lobato, September 6, 1970:




Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/2009 10:00AM by Russo Loco.