The Mad Dash

The May 1968 chase of the two 470's was the last time I photographed a freight on the DRGW ng. I had just finished graduate school and on my way to my new job at SP when Gordon Chappell called me to let me know about the trip. I arranged a last minute detour to Colorado. We rendezvoued in Alamosa and chased it in his little Thunderbird (I called it his Thunderturtle). Our last pictures were as the sun was setting around Navajo. It was a very different kind of chase with two 470's double heading instead of the bigger engines with the helper cut in, and operating on an expedited schedule so the lighting was much different from the old days. I coined the term "mad dash" because they ran through from Alamosa to Durango in one day, albeit a long day with a early departure from Alamosa and late night arrival in Durango. Gordon and I were pretty bummed out when we saw the destruction of the Durango yard for the new loop, plus I had a new job to get to, so we headed west and did not chase the Farmington turn that Greg has pictures of. I would have loved to have returned later in the year, to get some of those neat pix of the last trains like Russo was able to get, but new jobs come with little or no vacation.







JBWX



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2015 01:00PM by John West.