While I am not a big fan of the diamond stacks, I think they are historic to the Rio Grande. They were put on in the early 1960's, before they abandoned the freight operations out of Alamosa weren't they. If not for the Silverton train of the 60's, I doubt any of those 3 K28's would have survived today.
So, after the Rio Grande got out of the freight business we at least still had the Silverton train, although the engines had the diamond stacks awhile longer until Bradshaw bought the whole thing. So, I for one am thankful the Rio Grande kept the name on the tenders long enough to sell to an enterprise that wanted to keep the thing going for a long time. Rio Grande never made any big money with the train, but at least tried to keep it alive.
Look at the Southern #4501. It was a black engine for its useful Southern life, and as a shortline engine on the K&T. Then it was sold to a private individual who essentially later leased it to the Southern Railway. It operated from 1965-6 until around 1992 or so in GREEN livery, as the Southern wanted so much for it to be a PS-4 Pacific(they were green). So, while black was authentic, I am sure a lot of us overlooked that to enjoy the sights and sounds of seeing a REAL mainline steam engine once again in the east.
Now that its back in Chattanooga, it will likely be black when it is run through the shop again.
Sure, I'd like to turn back the clock to 1955 and see steam every day on the Norfolk and Western, with 6 passenger trains with J's, K's, and 6-8 freights a day with Y's, A's, and K's. But its gone...history...and you can't go back.
The ironic thing is, that if steam had lasted longer on mainline roads(say another 10 years), I doubt that the C&TS would have survived. It was only the fact that steam was scarce that so many fans helped to save it.
Of course to quote dandy Don Meredith(former voice on Monday Night Football) "If ifs and buts were candies and nuts we'd all be happy children"!
I miss Meredith. He made the show!
Greg Scholl
