Earl Wrote:
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...
> There is an optical illusion here as the entire
> area slopes toward Mt Blanca at about 1.42%. When
> you approach the mesa, it slopes down grade away
> from you while the track climbs up grade. It
> looks like the grade stiffens to about 3%. I
> remember my first firing trip west when I saw this
> and thought "oh crap, I need to get busy". So, I
> loaded 487 up with coal expecting the engineer to
> widen out on the throttle. He didn't and we
> continued our sedate shuffle with a big cloud of
> black smoke, followed by the pops lifting. The
> engineer, who was a retired Rock Island hogger
> Scenic Rys hired for the summer looked over at me,
> smiled and said "don't worry, I did the same thing
> on my first trip. Thought we going to get a real
> work-out here".
>
> The point being there is no more "gravity" (ie
> grade) here than anyplace else, in fact there is
> less.

During the first engineers school in June I experienced the hill 'the opposite way'. I brought the train down the hill from Lava with 487. As we swung around the curve and apparently 'started our descent' I saw what was coming and added something more than a 5lb set to the brakes. Couldn't figure out why we nearly came to a stop. Marvin was looking over my shoulder and just smiled. Definitely an optical illusion.
Rob