C&TS - May, 1981

I went to work for the C&TS around May 15, 1981. When I showed up that spring, we were finishing up the initial overhaul of 489. 489 had not run since 1960 and had sat on the deadline in Alamosa for years, then sat in Chama for more years before being singled out for overhaul in 1980. As you can see in these shots, the MOST important part has been done.....the paint job. At least that is what everyone sees. What you don't see is the 100's of hours of boiler work, machining new rod brasses, spring rigging pins, and so forth. I showed up in town armed with a set of number board slides for the number boards, courtesy the boys at Coronado Scale Models and their brief foray into making products for "Real n3". To keep from looking like TOO much of a foaming loonie in my first day at work (gotta keep cool for a few days a least), I waited until everyone went home, went out to my Jeep, grabbed my camera, put the number slides in and stepped back to admire our handwork.





In the bottom shot you will note the lack of a doghouse. The original was considered too far gone for reinstallation. It came back later that summer. In the foreground are the 488's side rods and eccentric rods. She was getting new rod brasses and having her rods polished up at the same time.

My first duty on the C&TS was under 489 dropping the pedestal binders and repacking the grease cellars with fresh block grease.

The next day, someone came in and "Wow, who came up with the number board slides....Those are cool..."

Of note are the walls of the shop still showing white paint and the skylights in the roof are still......skylights.

....stay tuned. More to come.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2016 10:36PM by Earl.