On February 10, 1960, locomotives 498 and 497 departed Cumbres with assorted loads and empties for Alamosa. It had been storming with snow and high winds, so the dispatcher authorized 498 and remain coupled to 497 on the decent to Antonito. Near MP 326.4 the track makes a curve to the left around an open hillside, then curves right across a high hill over a small tributary to the Los Pinos River. The winds tend to pile hard crusted snow on the track in this area.
On board the 498 was engineer Benny Hindelang and fireman Johnny Lira. On the 497 was engineer Roy Turney and fireman Eldon Morgan. The head end brakeman whose normal location would have been riding in 498’s doghouse was riding in 497’s because the steam heat line in 498’s doghouse wasn’t working. They were plowing snow rounding the curve at MP 326.4 when Roy yelled to Eldon “Hang on Benny’s going over!!” 498 essentially rode up on the hard packed snow drifted across the curve and headed straight down the hill. 498 rolled over on her right side. 497 stayed closer to the curve but went off the edge of the roadbed and it too went over on its right side. Eldon grabbed a hold of the armrest and planted his boot on the blower pipe and hung on for dear life as 497 settled over on its side.
The train, though derailed, rolled past the 497 piling up and landing in a jumbled heap in the gully ahead of 497. Eldon recalls hanging on to the armrest as 497 was coming to a rest and watching gondolas full of coal coming past smashing into the what supposed to be the bottom of his locomotive, wondering if 497 would stay put and if the cars would pile up on top of him.
Finally it all came to a stop. Everyone started checking on everyone else. The only one missing was Benny. They found him on his seat in the cab of 498, uninjured but seriously buried in packed snow. It was a minor miracle that no one was injured. Seldom does a steam locomotive turn over when at least one steam pipe is not broken off in the cab. The brakeman looked at the smashed doghouse of 498 and realized someone was watching over him as well.
The wrecked cars were bulldozed off the right of way and the track repaired. The locomotives stayed where they were until spring. 497 just barely cleared the mainline and Eldon has photos he took of a work train up the site in the spring showing 487 clearing 497’s drivers by about a foot. 497 came to rest on a mound of dirt about 20 ft long- just long enough to hold on to 497’s air tank. Had 497 moved ahead another 15 feet, she would have gone completely over and the story would have come out much differently for the crews.
Eventually 497 and 498 were righted, rerailed and hauled to Cumbres where they were set out on the tail of the wye. Eventually both were hauled back to Alamosa, rebuilt and returned to service. To this day 497 wears a few scars of the wreck: some oddly bent running boards on the left side, the cab roof overhand has a decided downward bend. 498’s snowplow was bent badly, removed and left in the trees at the wreck site along with shattered bits of freight cars and a pile of coal scattered down the hillside.
On the home front, the Morgan family decided a “Plan B” was needed to provide for the children in case the unthinkable should happen to Eldon. As a result Eldon’s wife Laura returned to school for her teaching credential and taught school in Alamosa until she and Eldon retired in the 1980’s.
Today in Alamosa, the wind is blowing a gale. Snow and dust is thick in the air - probably much as it was 46 years ago.
