Thanks, Dick, for once again filling in and clarifying what has happened, or more precisely, what has NOT happened. There is indeed a handy powerline running right past the pumphouse.
The pumphouse and Lava tank are a fine example of the fascination of the C&TS. It's a different world down by the pumphouse that the tank just 400' above, up on the mesa. One side note - Whenever I flew out of ABQ to Minneapolis, I always booked a window seat on the port side, hoping to catch a lucky view of the eastern end of the railroad. But the flight path was always too far east.
But one time we diverted a little west and suddenly there was Lava Tank, the loop and the connector track way down on the mesa. The perspective from 35,000' conveyed just how fragile the railroad was (and is) along with the remoteness and lonely beauty of its landscape.