Re: Roller bearing wheelsets in the Chama yard

That is exactly what the wheels and roller bearings which are new were made for. I started this project when we made the first of the second series of clerestory roof coaches. These cars are built on standard gauge flatcar frames (the old Rio Grande ribbon rail cars). My concerns were two fold. First was that we were running out of Andrews style trucks. That would limit the number af new cars we could build. Second a passenger style truck would look more satisfactory and give a smoother ride. A smoother ride would allow higher train speeds between Chama and Antonito. That translates into a shorter schedule and better customer service. You have to remember that this all took place in the early 90's when "kyle" was running the show and passenger numbers were going up every year. We were planning for 100,000+ passengers a year.

The plan was to design and build passenger style trucks with a depressed height center plate. That would allow them to be exchanged with any of the trucks under the Chama or Antonito passenger cars. They would also be used under all the new cars we planned to build (remember we bought 11 car frames). As the new cars were built the box cars could be retired from passenger service. Eventually I hoped we could retire some of the "Antonito" coaches and rebuild them back into 6500 series flat cars for work train service.

If anyone is interested in working on this plan (finishing the trucks) I would be happy to help them.

John Bush

P.S. Getting 6 functioning locomotives was also part of this plan.