Re: Jim Pearce, former D&RGW Engineer (one more story)

Jim told me that on one trip form Durango to Chama they were to meet a westbound train west of Chama. The Dispatcher was new and had looked on the map and had seen a siding that he thought would be a good place to have the trains meet. This location is next to the present day junction of US 64 and 84 west of Chama. There were two problems with the Dispatchers choice. First it was a spur, not a siding. Secondly, it was only about 8 cars long and both trains were around 30 cars. Jim said when his Engineer saw the train orders he swore and shook his head and then went into the Durango Depot to check on his orders. The orders were confirmed. They ended up meeting there in the middle of the night and had to do a complicated saw by to get the two trains past each other with the end result of both trains getting in to their respective terminals very late. Jim said the Dispatcher didn't last long after that...