Re: Help - 483 photos needed

Hello, Roger -

Per p. 64 of 'Rio Grande Narrow Gauge - The Final Years, Alamosa to Chama' by Joseph P. Hereford, Jr. and Ernest W. Robart, in the late summer and early fall of 1968 engine #483 was 'not very convincingly disguised as No. 577 of the "Grand Mountain Railroad Line",' for the Hollywood epic 'The Good Guys and the Bad Guys'. It is clear from photos of #483 taken later that year, and during her first year of service on the C&TS, that the D&RGW had applied a fair amount of readily available and relatively cheap 'Boxcar Red' (possibly Tuscan Red, but definitely not "brown") paint to her cab and tender, in addition to the bright red used on the counterweights and the gold 'trim' applied to the handrails and cylinder covers.

"Beauty Ugly is in the eye of the beholder", so they say - as evidenced by these photos taken on the occasion of #483 pulling the first C&TS train into Chama on Labor Day Sunday - September 6, 1970 -

Lubricating and checking things out before departure:


Switching at Lobato Siding; the cars were placed ahead of the engine to facilitate track work in The Narrows:


Extra #483 East on October 16, 1970, just beyond the Rock Tunnel:


Note that the tender is again lettered Rio Grande. I think there was another movie filmed during mid- or late September, 1970, but I have no idea what it was. Also note that there clearly was no snowplow on the engine during 1970.

- Russ



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2009 10:47AM by Russo Loco.