Final Year of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Operations - 1968

Hi, All -

The above subject line was changed from "Mad Dash Questions (and Answers)" on 04/12/10 to facilitate searches for this thread due to the many questions about 1968 operations posted recently, and to make it easier to keep a summary all in one place.

Inspired by the "Mad Dash" posts by JBWX et al, I've been trying to put together a summary of D&RGW operations between Alamosa and Durango in 1968.
Here's what WE have so far:

04/21 - #498 Durango to Gato with 28 empties.  (These empties were apparently taken on east by the June 4 train from Durango to Chama.)

04/23 - #476 & #478 break-in, Alamosa to Lava & return.   (See [ngdiscussion.net] et seq for photos by E. Robart.)

05/28 - #476 & #478 23-car freight Alamosa to Durango. (aka "The "Mad Dash" - see [chasingtrains.smugmug.com] for John West's photos,
             [ngdiscussion.net] et seq for photos by E. Robart, and [ngdiscussion.net] et seq for additional information.)

06/03 - #478 - 21 car freight to Farmington, 24 cars back to Carbon Junction (Durango).
06/04 - #483 & #493 - 44-car freight Alamosa to Chama; #498 24-car freight Durango to Chama (same cars as returned from Farmington 06/03).
06/05 - #483 & #493 - 30+ cars Chama to Alamosa; #498 - 44 cars Chama to Durango.  #478 light Durango to Gato to help 498 west to MP 443.
06/06 - #478 Farmington Turn, same as 6/04 minus 1 box of Co. frt.; return w/ 5 mty box.

Per Ernie Robart, from Earl Knoob on 12/27/16::
  06/13 - #483 & #493 - Alamosa-Chama, 7 box drill mud, 5 short pipe, 15 long pipe, 17 idlers, 1 flat with tank end loads (behind engine),
              1 dump gon scoria (ballast). Dump gon set off at Cumbres. 45 cars to Chama
  06/13 - #498 - Durango-Chama, 22 mty box, 6 mty pipe gons, 3 mty flats,2 mty dump gons,, 1 mty gon, 3 lds coal. 37 cars.
  06/14 - #483 & #493 - Chama-Alamosa, 1 mty gon, 17 mty box, 6 mty pipe gons, 3mty flats, 3mty box, pick up dump gon of scoria at Cumbres.
              31 cars into Alamosa.
  06/14 - #498 Chama-Durango, same as 6/13 - 45 cars.  #478 light Durango to Gato to help 498 West to MP 443.

07/17 - #483 & #493 25-car freight Alamosa to Chama; #498 11-car freight Durango to Chama.
07/18 - #483 & #493 19 cars Chama to Cumbres (am)*, #483 & #493 11 cars Chama to Cumbres,
             #483 & #493 30 cars Cumbres to Alamosa; #498 25 cars Chama to Durango.  (For July 17-18 pics see [ngdiscussion.net] et seq.)

08/19 - #483 to Toltec siding w/ dozer on flat, boxcar of tools & supplies left there to help clear slide near Calico Cut or Phantom Curve.

08/27 - #498 14 boxcars of lumber to Gato, __ empty(?) cars back to Durango.
08/28 - #483 & #484 17 cars oilfield supplies + two flats wallboard Alamosa to Chama; #498 14 pipe gons & 14 idler cars Durango to Gato;
            14 loads lumber, 7 pipe gons & 7 idler cars Gato to Chama.
08/29 - #483 19-car freight Chama to Durango; #498 & #484 14-car freight Chama to Alamosa, added tool car & flat w/ dozer at Toltec
            (last revenue freight over Cumbres - see [ngdiscussion.net]);
08/31 - #483 19 cars to Aztec & Farmington, __ cars back to Carbon Junction - last revenue freight on D&RGW narrow gauge.
            (For pics see [ngdiscussion.net] et seq.)

Sept. - #473 movie work for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", Durango area.
            #483 movie work for "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys", from Durango to Chama (& Lobato/Cumbres?).
            (See [ngdiscussion.net] for Ernie's detailed notes, and [ngdiscussion.net] et seq for further info.)

10/09 - #473 run light to Chama.
10/10 - #473 Chama to Alamosa.
10/?? - #483 Chama to Durango.

11/23 - #483 with NPS special, caboose & 3 passenger cars, Durango to Chama.  For pics see [ngdiscussion.net] et seq.)
11/24 - #483 with NPS special, caboose & 3 passenger cars, Chama to Alamosa. **

12/05 - #473 & #483 with #481 dead in train, Alamosa to Chama, with three passenger cars from NPS special, cabeese 0540, 0589 & 04343,
            three(?) cars of locomotive parts, and four empty boxcars for added brakes Cumbres to Chama.  (For pics see [ngdiscussion.net] et seq.)
12/06 - #473 pulled above "hospital" train w/ caboose 0540 to Durango; #483 returned to Alamosa w/ two cabeese (04343 & 0589) . . .

"Sic Transit Gloria Mundi"

* * * * *

Questions:

1)   Per Hereford & Robart*** there were only five westbound freights operated from Alamosa in 1968. This does not include the April break-in run of #476 & #478, but and does [not] include the last run on December 5, 1968. Greg Scholl mentions in one of his "Mad Dash" posts that there were freights on both June 4 & 5 and again on June 12 & 13. Neither of these are mentioned by Hereford & Robart, but one or the other is [both are] needed to make the correct total for the year.   There were two pairs of trains in June (two from Alamosa and two from Durango), and if so on which days did they run?, on June 4-5 and 12-13.

2)   There is no mention in Hereford & Robart*** - nor in any of the "Mad Dash" posts - of #473 operating from Durango to Alamosa during 1968, yet she is pictured pulling the last train from Alamosa to Chama and on to Durango on December 5 & 6, 1968.   Per several responses here, and a p.m. from Ernie Robart, #473 ran light from Durango to Chama on Oct. 9 and from Chama to Alamosa on Oct. 10. She was indeed the last engine shopped in Alamosa, during October and November, 1968.

Thanks everyone for your assistance!

- Roosso (MUY) Loco

*  Per Hereford & Robart***, the "Cumbres Turn" of July 18 was the only one during 1968, and the last one operated by the D&RGW.  See [ngdiscussion.net] et seq for pics.

** Here's a photo of the NPS special approaching Lobato, given to me several years ago by Ray Osterwald and "discovered recently in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order":


*** 'Rio Grande Narrow Gauge - The Final Years, Alamosa to Chama' by Joseph P. Hereford, Jr. and Ernest W. Robart   © 2001 R. Robb, Union City, Ca.     This small but excellent book is filled with beautiful B&W photos of the last few years of D&RGW operations, and also contains several detailed maps and a good summary of the history of the line over Cumbres Pass.



Edited 32 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2019 01:25PM by Russo Loco.