Re: Straight stack

Thanks, John.

I remember a discussion some time back where with input from Wade Hall and Dave Grandt we figured that #476 had it's fake stack through most of the 50's, I believe it may actually have been from #473's original in 1950's Bumblebee costume. By 1958, #478 had it's fake stack, #473 was not fitted with one until at least 1962, when the prospect of needing all three of the 470's on the "Silverton" took #473 out of it's duties as the Durango switcher. They were running two trains daily in 1964.

Hate them if you want to, but those fake stacks were part of the historical transition from the original D&RGW into the "modern" era of private ownership which we enjoy today.

The painted train, the fake stacks, the development of the area around the depot ("Rio Grande Land") all played a part in bringing the narrow gauge into the future by paying tribute to it's past, however hokey it may have seemed to the railfan community. The D&RGW didn't have to be told that it would be tourism, not railfans that would make the line profitable. Worked out pretty well.