Olaf Rasmussen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After a frosty night in Chama, the hostlers got
> busy to prepare the engines for their runs back to
> Durango and Alamosa. With both engines returning
> to their starting terminals, the hostlers coupled
> 493 and 497 and turned them together on the wye.
> Here they are returning between the string of box
> cars that had been waiting in Chama for two weeks,
> and the train that had been brought by 497 the day
> before.
>
> [attachment 67285 rgbwe22202.jpg]
>
> With the serviced engines waiting for the road
> crews to finish breakfast at Kelly's Bar, there
> was a little time to spend in the warm cab of 497.
> The Alamosa crew would shortly start switching out
> the Weidman lumber loads brought from Durango,
> service the Skyline Lumber mill in Chama and
> assemble the morning Cumbres turn. The Durango
> crew would assemble their train after the
> departure of 493 with the Cumbres turn. This
> provided a window of opportunity to chase the
> Cumbres turn before returning for the
> Durango-bound train.
>
> [attachment 67286 scan00012.jpg]
>
> The morning Cumbres turn consisted of 9 loads of
> lumber from the Weidman mill using both box cars
> and flat cars. One could usually distinguish
> between Weidman loads and those from Skyline, as
> Weidman used box cars and double-stacked lumber on
> flat cars. Skyline only loaded flat cars and
> stacked the lumber on a single level.
>
> [attachment 67287 671206a01.jpg]
>
> 493 charging along the old Cumbres Pass dirt road
>
> [attachment 67288 671206a02.jpg]
>
> Long before the fences and signs went up, heading
> to the west side of the Lobato bridge was no
> problem. Although the full tonnage train was not
> moving very fast, one had to move right along to
> beat the train to this spot
>
> [attachment 67289 493lobatobr.jpg]
So enjoying this thread Olaf and thank you for sharing these wonderful photos. If I'm not mistaking--493 made 2 turns that day on her way back to Alamosa. Mostly lumber loads--did you happen to see Jim Marcus out there filming this train?
William
aka drgwk37
