Omahas9000 Wrote:
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> Thanks for the additional info, Greg. What makes
> me mad is fact I was 18 and could have driven out
> for one or two of those trips, just wasn't
> sufficiently up to speed. Dick Kindig's "Trains
> Magazine" piece on the K's was the most recent
> thing I'd read about the railroad, so when Steve
> and I hit the roundhouse in Alamosa early that
> August I was totally shocked to see live engines.
> I'd thought it was all down to the Silverton by
> then.
John,
Don't feel bad. In June 1968 my family went out there to chase
NG steam. We got a run to Farmington with 478, 498 to Chama, then
483-493 to Alamosa from Chama on day three. We hoped to get another
run from Alamosa, but they did not know exactly when the next one would be. So, dad decided to kill some time. We went to Belen, NM, where they still had some Santa Fe Steam in the Roundhouse, albeit dead of course. The folks there were gracious enough to let us all check it out and they seemed to enjoy having someone interested in their historic treasures. We then ventured to El Paso, TX and a brief crossing of the bridge into Mexico. Dad called Alamosa again, after several days, and still no definite time for the Freight to run. We then had to head home. I was 17 and could drive but did not have my own car. We had a truck camper on that trip which we sold the next year. Operations were so eratic the final years one could not very well plan for a run. I suspect most runs were decided on a day before perhaps 2 days at best, once transfer was completed in Alamosa, etc.
So don't feel bad about missing something. While I am glad we got 3 days in 1968 and stuff in previous years, I will always regret not getting the next series of runs that we missed by only a few days in June of 1968. I nearly went to College in CO, but by 1969 it looked as if the Freight was finished, and Freshmen were not allowed cars at Ft. Lewis College in Durango at the time, so I opted to stay closer to home.
Cheers,
Greg Scholl
