493 passing Cataract Falls and entering the Narrows

On Thursday, May 12, 493 pulled the Clearance flat car and 13 other cars past the Cataract Falls into the Narrows on the first run to Silverton in 2020. It was also 493's first run to Silverton under her own power. Due to some vandalism about 1 1/2 miles below, two crew members were riding the front of the engine to make sure that there were no other obstructions on the track. This vandalism appears to have occurred very recently, perhaps that day, as the crew inspecting bridges had been thru here not long before. Interestingly, this day I had extra time on my hands after seeing the train depart the Highline, and hiked at least a mile south of here just to enjoy the scenery, and must have barely missed seeing the obstructions placed on the track.







I had expected a very short train, and was surprised by 493's loud exhaust and to see the cars just coming and coming.



In another moment the train stopped and the two crew members riding the front of 493 got off to check out something on the engineer side of the engine





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2020 12:57PM by Olaf Rasmussen.