Re: Neatness counts :-(

Very much concur. In DRGW days the Chama roundhouse was used only to service engines, and there were few stored parts and the tracks were generally empty except for the rotary and associated equipment.

Now it is THE major engine repair facility for the C&TS, and surrounded by stored equipment, parts and such. This is pretty much the inevitable consequence of the need to use it differently than the DRGW did. In that respect it is more like Durango or Alamosa.

While not exactly historically accurate in terms of location, perhaps the irony is the shop is probably the most evocative of what the ng. was like for the folks that worked it in DRGW days because the nature of the work is the same. Repairing steam engines has changed little, and is still dirty gritty work much of the time. The good folks that work there could be transplated to Durango or Alamosa 50 (or 100) years ago and fit right in. I can probably say the same for the train and engine crews.

JBWX