Re: D&RGW Freight Operations in 1968

ivb361 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So this was the first freight of 1968. When,
> where, and which loco(s) pulled the second
> freight of the '68 season (as THAT 50th anni-
> versary rapidly approaches). In fact, It would
> be interesting to acknowledge the 50th anni-
> versary of each freight run in '68!


Per 'Rio Grande Narrow Gauge – The Final Years, Alamosa to Chama' by J. P. Hereford Jr. and E. W. Robart (© R/Robb Ltd., 2001), there were only nine revenue freights over Cumbres Pass during 1968 — the herein described 'Mad Dash' on May 28, and four pairs of trains from Alamosa & Durango, meeting in Chama, and continuing on with the crews returning to their home towns the following day.  Per 'The Book', these were run on June 04-05, June 18-19, July 17-18 and August 28-29; the "Cumbres Turn" of July 18 was the only one during 1968, and the last one operated by the D&RGW.  (The August 28-29 runs are featured in an article on pp. 24-29 of the June, 2018 issue of TRAINS magazine.  Also, TRAINS and the C&TS are running a commemorative charter on August 25-26, 2018.)  Per one of Earl Knoob's posts, above, Eldon Morgan and Jim Shawcroft were the engineer and fireman, respectively, on the helper engines over Cumbres Pass on the May 28, July 17-18 and August 28-29 operations.   See [ngdiscussion.net] for further information.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2018 01:44PM by Russo Loco.