55 years ago, December 20 - 21 1965, 487 & 493 on flanger spreader run

The beautiful photos and videos by rockrdg Bob and Jerry 474 showcasing the current 482 - 493 double headers out of Hermosa reminded me that exactly 55 years ago today 487 and 493 were plowing snow on Cumbres Pass. I was lucky enough to be in Alamosa on the seriously cold morning of December 20, 1965 as 487 and 493 were steaming quietly on the ready track.



Note: I posted some of the following photos a couple of years ago, and I intended to just post one photo to mark the 55th anniversary, but back then I had not learned the art of spot removal from photos. So I decided to re-post this adventure with cleaned up photos, and to delete the earlier thread. So here we go again.

On December 20, at the start of Christmas break , I had driven from NMSU at Las Cruces to Alamosa on my way to Breckenridge, where my brother was to introduce me to skiing for the first time.
Arriving in Alamosa in the late evening, I naturally wandered over to the engine house to see if anything was happening. I was happy to find 487 and 493 under steam and learned that they were scheduled to head to Chama on a spreader/flanger run at first light. After a $ 3.00 night at the Victoria Hotel across from the station, I was back at the engine facilities just as dawn broke. It was mighty cold, certainly well below zero, but I imagine the engine cabs were toasty warm.

The engines are ready to head out as soon as the road crew arrives



After coupling on to the flanger, spreader, box car of equipment and three cabooses, the snow plow outfit is heading out of Alamosa



Soon the outfit is rolling down the 3-rail raceway at a good 25 to 30 mph





(to be continued)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2020 04:45PM by Olaf Rasmussen.