A beautiful day. Videos online at 6:00PM

Saturday, May 26, 2000 What a beautiful day for railroading! Picture, if you will: A cloudless blue New Mexico sky; Cool enough for a sweatshirt; the pungent smell of coal smoke in the air; steam whistles chirping as the engines get their final watering and shunt into place; The crowds milling about; cameras snapping; children wide-eyed.
463 is on the point, Gerald Blea at the throttle, followed by the OM water car for fire control.
489 1s the road engine, Jeff Stebbins at the throttle. 10 cars and a gon. The train is sold out.
At 10:45 AM, Gerald mounts his marker lights of 463; The crews gather at the front of 463 for a photograph. Kim Flowers shows up with a bottle of champagne, which she breaks over the pilot of 463.
Promptly at 10:30, the engines whistle for departure, and slowly begin to move. Did I have trouble focusing the video camera? You bet. Hard to focus through tears of joy.
Congratulations to all for a job well done! We can and we will: We DID!