Re: Random Fuzzy Photos #31

I love to study the details in Jim's pics:

The first one 0f 488 in Antonito is interesting in that 488 seems to be there mid-day. Markers on 0503 indicate this was some sort of extra train. 488 has behind her a repainted flat top car (what we used to call "Antonito Cars" as there were dedicated to the east end of the railroad), a flat top in the original "circus" paint job, followed by a brand new coach being pulled from the shop. On the next track over can be seen a couple of coach skeletons awaiting finishing. On the right is 463's tender and a car of coal we kept in Antonito.

Number 2 of 487 without a plow seems rare today, but 487 ran plowless for much of the 1980's 487 is using 488's tender at this time of her life. This cistern was replaced about 1990, and lives on a flat car in Chama.

Number 3 looks to be taken the same time as #1. How and why 488 is Antonito on a mid-day caboose hop is interesting.

#4 Coker used to say this was the "Greatest Vista in Mountain Railroading. All The Way To The Great Divide." Indeed. The furthest mountains do form the Continental Divide to the south west of Chama. Rabbit Peak is the small flat topped hill down at the bottom of the valley. Chama is hiding right around the corner down there.

#5 Osier - pre dining hall. This was one of the few days it didn't rain at lunch. Behind 484 is one of the flat bottom gondolas that got sacrificed by being open cars in the train. Most expired from the fact that gondolas have no shielding from the weather, the sills are open to rainfall. Snow sits in them all winter. The sills rot. Having them between the engine and all those newer steel cars didn't help their longevity either.