What a day. Ugh. The Christmas rush is hitting and the San Juan's power can't keep the schedule, and then something on the mail car breaks and costs another 35 minutes! The Grande has the added expense of having to feed and water the stock off the RGS. And what a scene that must have been near midnight as a bunch of angry railroaders in overalls cut cattle in the dark on foot while the drunk cowboys made fun of them!

Only to be topped by the phone call from the depot in Antonito that "uh, yea we just put a coal car off the end of the coal trestle and part of the trestle is laying on the main. Sorry?!?"

And I see that the Santa Fe train has an outfit and a car of company material, presumably a machinist and his laborer and a new trailing truck wheel set for the lame 464 in Santa Fe. Rememeber, it was there improving the railroad. Let no good deed go unpunished on a day like this!

And then there is the fiasco in Sargent: The barrel transfer is broke at least some of the time so you can't unload the coal or advance the loads to Salida. Your westbound loses 3 hours making a bad meet forced on it by a blocked yard in Sargent, then the plan changes, and at the end of the day they just leave their train plugging another siding and make a run with the caboose for Gunnison. A real gutter ball that one was! But then it's made worse when the loaded train (481 East) has to set out on line too because Sargent is still blocked, so you are forced to call a turn out of Salida to try to get some fluidity, but then some joker calls another eastbound out of Gunnison that jams Sargent back full again!

And then you end the day by derailing at Monarch and calling for the tool cars.

UGH!!!!! Just should have stayed in bed.