Re: Gunnison TT Outriggers explained

This all may very well be....but.....I would think a crew would be more likely to leave their box closer to the area they tied up.

Would an inbound crew really tie a locomotive up on the turntable? And if they did, would it still be located near there when they went back to work? During my time in the last years of the D&RGW in Durango...crews tied up on or near the ashpit. That was usually the first place an engine needed to go, and where a mechanical dept employee would take over. It was also the last place it would need to be before going out again.When I first transferred to Roper, I worked for Harold Hockett. He was the last Roundhouse forman in Gunnison. I did have the opportunity to ask him just a few months ago about the outriggers on the turntable. He didn't remember them or have any idea what they might have been. He did mention to me though, that some of the crews liked to keep their engines in the house. He recalled that the turntable had gotten so hard to operate, that they were told if they wanted them in, they could put them there themselves. He wasn't about to put anything in there that didn't need to go in.He did however keep the 268 inside, because the railfans kept stealing the scoop shovel off of it.