During the very early days of the D&S (April 1981) the priority of the new owner was to remove these fake stacks ASAP! This was interesting to us new hires, as all 3 of the K-28's at the time were sitting on there pony/trailing trucks with all the drivers, driving box's, spring and brake rigging (all un-marked) in one big pile in front of the Durango Roundhouse. In addition we only had maybe 6 people working in the shop, no tools (the Rio Grande people carried everything that was worth having away)and less than a month to get the 473 ready for work/freight train service. We needed a running locomotive ASAP and the 473 was the closest to being ready, so the first thing to do was take off the fake stack. Steve Jackson brought the very old "Roustabout Crane" around, while I was instructed by Supt. Mayer to help him guide the stack off as it was being lifted up with a chain wrapped around it. Mayer was standing behind the headlight on the smokebox while I was between the stack and sand dome. As the signal was given and the stack started to rise up to clear the original stack underneath it, something didn't seem quite right. As Mayer kept pushing the stack towards me, I knew that when it cleared the original stack, the fake one would then be top heavy and would probably flip over in my direction. Just as it cleared, I chickened out, let go and headed down the firemans side running board. As I did, I felt something brush along my butt, and looked at Jackson who's eyes were as big as silver dollars. There was a big crash as the fake stack bounced off the boiler (right were I had been standing) and came to a rest hanging upside down from the chain on top of the firemans side sniffter valve. Appearently as I ran down the running board and the stack cleared, the top with the cinder screens just missed me and swiped my butt, taking the seat of my overalls completely off! The jeans that I had on underneath were in one piece, but covered with soot. That's as close to those fake stacks that I ever want to get, then or now!!
