Devil in the details

First off my hat is off to Russ Sperry and the C&TS crews for putting together the #489 special this past week. My purpose in this posting is not to diminish this effort but to encourage future specials to further strive for authenticity in the recreation of the D&RGW RR under the auspices of the C&TS.

Russ wrote in a posting back in July of 2009 when this effort was getting under way:

“Also, IMHO, anything lettered D&RGW or Rio Grande should be as accurate an historic re-creation as possible, and - to avoid confusing the public - NO extensively modified or non-historic equipment WHATSOEVER should be lettered 'D&RGW' or 'Rio Grande’. “

There have been some stunning photos posted already here on this forum of the trip and I thank those involved and the photographers for sharing their work with us all. I am struck though by some of details that are missing when I compare #489 to original photos posted on this forum. See if you can identify from these circa 1950 views and the current trip what is missing. Here are some links to #489 photos:

489 photos

489 1950 excursion

More 489 from 1950


I understand that there will always be some conflict between the C&TS operator who uses the engines in daily service and recreating or replacing details. The Friends do an excellent job when it comes to restoring non-revenue equipment but for some reason when it comes to special excursions some of the details don’t seem to get the same level of attention. Here are a few details from comparing photos that caught my eye: class lights or extra flags are not in use, flag holders on the pilots of some of the engines have been removed, no flag holder box on the smoke box, flanger position flag and linkage removed. These historic details are important IMHO and would not be a major $ investment to replicate, their absence in a photo recreation is puzzling given the effort expended in all the other areas to get things accurate.

Again my post is meant to provoke some discussion of these details so I will play the devil’s advocate in asking why are they not important enough to include in the future if we are serious about preserving the D&RGW heritage?

Rod Jensen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2010 10:31PM by rod.