Hi, all -
Per page 35 of
'D&RGW: DURANGO to ALAMOSA and SALIDA' by Dorman & Hayden,
"
... Major movements of petroleum products {from the Farmington area} began in 1924
and 1925. Gramps later opened an oilfield at Chromo, Colorado, and a refinery in Ala-
mosa.
... By 1963 or 1964 the Gramps traffic ended and the Alamosa refinery was dis-
mantled." Per page 115 of the same book, "
... The refinery closed about 1962."
Per page 6 of
'Rio Grande Narrow Gauge - The Final Years, Alamosa to Chama' by Hereford & Robart, "
... in September 1964 the refinery closed.
... In January 1965, the Rio Grande suspended further trains until May."
The twenty or so posts beginning with [
ngdiscussion.net] and ending with [
ngdiscussion.net] also give dates ranging from 1962 to 1964 and even to 1965 for the end of the oil shipments from Chama to Alamosa. On the last post in the series, John Templeton - self-proclaimed Chama station agent - states, "The refinery closed in the 64-65 era, as I recall they had a large fire that doomed the plant, later photos show fire marks on the tank sides."
Refining the above information makes it pretty clear that the shipment of oil from Chama to the refinery in Alamosa ended in the Fall of 1964, but when was the large
GRAMPS logo first applied to the frameless tank cars that Lafayette Hughes leased from UTLX? It is clear from the series of posts noted above that Mr. Hughes operation started around 1938, but when did he first actually have the nickname given to him by his grandchildren painted on the sides of the cars? Is it possible that John Cole's drive to have
eight nine tank cars operational by Labor Day 2015 will succeed just in time to allow a (mostly) tank car "Cumbres Turn" to be run on August 26, 2015, in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the
GRAMPS name?
*
- Rússo
p.s. Are any of Lafayette Hughes grandchildren or great-grandchildren around to help celebrate the return of his namesake cars to service over Cumbres Pass if our proposed special actually occurs??
* See [
ngdiscussion.net] and [
ngdiscussion.net]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2014 11:41AM by Russo Loco.
