Playing with the light: these three slides of the Alamosa- Antonito chase are about hopeless, but I did do a bit of playing with the light to see if they can be improved a bit ( I am not pretending to be a photo shop wizard - anyway, I don't have Photo Shop).
I am afraid that this slide did not survive the intervening 53 years as well as the others, but this is a scene that will never be repeated
This, too, is unlikely to be repeated, as presumably we have developed a stronger survival instinct
The La Jara station is, I believe, now a museum, but I have never been inside
As for Russo's comment about John Charles - he was definitely active as fireman and engineer when 18 was running out of Alamosa many years later, here seen departing Alamosa for Antonito
Here John Charles is firing 18 in a dip shot scene that I wish I had taken when the narrow gauge was still running on the three rail track ( I didn't really appreciate dip shot scenes until I ran into some incredible ones in South Africa, particularly the Port Alfred branch)