Re: #489 with Green Jacket, #463 in Black ...

Hi, Steve et al -

First of all, I think we should ALL give Soni and Michelle a BIG two thumbs up for everything
they have accomplished this year!

Secondly, I have to agree with Steve - as long as the crew is going to all this trouble to attract
more visitors, why not accomplish this AND maintain historical integrity at the same time?

To summarize some thoughts scattered in four or five different threads over the past couple of weeks:

1) #463 will attract a LOT of fans who have never seen her run, and bring back a lot of fans who haven't seen her run since 1996 (like myself) or 1997. IMHO, she doesn't need to have a green boiler jacket to do this, and in fact - since a green jacket would be historically inaccurate - this might even discourage some "purists" from visiting and riding the photo freights she will undoubted pull.

2) If there is a desire for an engine with a green jacket, why not #489? She is the only engine on the C&TS roster known to have had a green jacket while under D&RGW ownership. 2010 is the sixtieth anniversary of #489's "season in green", so next year is an especially appropriate time for this. Like the return of #463, it would help add something extra to the C&TS Fortieth Anniversary season.

3) Since #489 would, if #2 (above) should occur, already have a non-black paint job, she could be painted for a week or so with a relatively easy-to-remove water-base paint to stand in for #483 in a re-enactment of the first C&TS train into Chama - September 6, 1970.
The red paint applied by the Rio Grande in 1968 appears to be ordinary freight car Tuscan Red, and was not even glossy, so a flat latex should work fine for a one-week makeup job. The rest of the fleet could remain in their "official" Rio Grande paint schemes which Soni and Michelle have gone to so much trouble to accurately reproduce. After the Anniversary Celebration on September 3-6, 2010, the ugly Tuscan Red and Gold Trim could be washed off of #489; she could finish the season with a green jacket, and be permanently restored to her all-black livery during the off-season.

4) If there is a desire for one engine to have a green jacket long-term, I would suggest that when #492/97 is returned to operation she be restored as closely as possible to her 'as delivered' configuration - with small cab numbers and "DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN" plus a logo on the tender - and a green jacket. There is at least a TINY bit of evidence that she MAY have worn a green jacket when delivered to Alamosa from Denver, plus she has an older look than the K-36's and the fleet of four - #484, -7, -8 and -9 could all retain their "family" appearance.

... just some thoughts from one of Roger's fellow "Five Old Farts",

- Russo (muy) Loco

p.s. Would it cause too much confusion if the red-and-gold stand-in for #483 pushed the real, cosmetically-restored #483 onto her new (semi-) permanent display site during the Anniversary Celebration?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2009 12:21PM by Russo Loco.