Re: 473 at Lobato on the San Juan

drgwk37 Wrote:
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> This is the San Juan. They have the mail RPO on
> the front end. If this was an excursion and done
> separately they wouldn't have had the RPO in the
> consist. They may have added cars due to an
> excursion group and added the Silver Vista to get
> it to Durango for use on the Silverton branch. On
> many occasions the San Juan was more than a 4 or 5
> car train. This is a great photo though--thank
> you for posting it.
>
> William
> aka drgwk37

William I have to agree with you. Another sign its the San Juan is the K28. Remember after 1941 they only had three, and most of the time they were assigned the San Juan. So, if this had been a full excursion it may have likely been a K36 or K37. On the 2-3 trips i rode in the 50's and 60's we never had a K28, but by then they were assigned the Silverton trains of course.
Another point that says its excursion group riding the San Juan is the fact that there is a photo of it. Likely one of the relatives of a rider shot the picture, whereby an everyday San Juan might have been too ordinary for those types to photograph.
Cool shot though.
Greg Scholl

PS I would bet this train would indeed have had a helper if it were going eastbound from Chama to Cumbres(the opposite direction).