Re: About Those Half flanges on #346

Bill

We both have heard the flange story from Uncle Bob many times. I remember it the same way. When I was doing research for the 346 booklet thirty years ago, I spent several evenings at the CRRM library, with Bob. For some of you younger guys at that time the Library was a small basement room and boxes of material stored in box cars. Bob and I discussed the flange instalation at great length, along with many others. Bob was a great source of information on many things, he remembered nearly everything. He also was not the kind of person to make things up.

The C&S turned the partial flanges onto no.2&3 drivers during the repair following the wreck. This was the C&S standard practice.

When I look at the photos, the second and third C&S photos look to me to show the flanges. Of course if I squint long and hard enough at a photo, I can see what ever I want. Thats human nature. We all do it.

The C&S turned the tires and installed the flanges. The Rio Grande never cut them off, and personally I do not think that they ever turned the tires. The Rio Grande was trying as hard as they could to get out of NG business and was not about to waste money on proper maint. on smaller locomotives. The remaining 2-8-0's were given a lick and a promise and what little money that was in the budget was used for the newer and heavier power.

In this day in age we take better care of these wonderful artifacts, because they are thought of as artifacts. The railroad thought of them as pieces of equiptment to be used until no longer needed and then disposed of so you didn't have to pay to maintain or pay taxes on it.
That is just the way things happened.

Cheers
Dirk Ramsey