tomc Wrote:
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> Wayne Hoskin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > > 681657&key=2460898]DRGW 484 posed next to SD
> > > diesel at Alamosa[/url]
> >
> > Not to nit pic but shouldn't the tag read "DRGW
> > 484 posed next to GP diesel's at Alamosa", most
> > likely a pair of GP7's.
> > Or does the SD stand for something else in this
> > context??
> > Great photo none the less.
> >
> > Wayne from Oz
>
> Yes those are GPs so SD Should Be changed! SDs
> had 3 axle trucks.
>
> Tom C.
The Rio Grande had specific rules forbidding 6-axle power west of Walsenburg. The big engines played hell on the 16 degree curves over La Veta Pass. That does not mean 6 axle power never got to Alamosa. Sometime in the 1990's I was over in Alamosa and swung by the depot to see if anything was going on. There sitting on a side track was the power that came in that morning from Pueblo. In the middle of 5-unit set was an SD45-2. I grabbed my camera and got out of the car to preserve this anomaly on film. Just then, out of the office came Don Phillips, the trainmaster/roadmaster. He said "Good. I'm glad someone is taking a picture of this. Someone is going to get into BIG trouble over this screw up!"
That didn't stop the SLRG from running 6-axle power over the hill. They claimed the "steering" trucks on SD90's made them as flexible as a 2-axle truck. The Steering Trucks just made them more difficult to re-rail. They sure tore up a bunch of track though.
Then there was the week they leased a pair of SD40's......
I kept telling Chicago there was a reason the Rio Grande didn't run big power over the hill....and it wasn't because they liked to run lots of little engines on one train. But all the Corporate Dorks went to college and knew a LOT more than I did. I just listened to the guys who spent their entire lives on that hill....
