** Slides from '66 - and another question ...

Ernie, Jimmy et al -

As noted above, I finally located my lone tin box of 'not for prime time' RR slides,* and there's one mostly underexposed set that has got me a bit confused again, just when I thought I had all the dates straightened out . . .

Here are the few that are not so dark that they're not worth scanning.  First, engine #492 passing the stock pens at Lobato:


And then the train climbing past Dalton, arriving at Cumbres, and helper #483 getting a drink before heading back to Chama:


Clearly, #492 and #483 - the same two engines I caught eastbound at Gato the day before - are making a Cumbres Turn.  So what's the problem?  This set of slides is labeled "August 16, 1966" - but there are photos of #492 & #483 on pages 67 & 68 of Ernie's book placing the engines in Chama on August 26, 1966.   What are the odds that these same two engines would have been road engine and helper eastbound on the usual Monday-Tuesday train one week and then again on the usual Thursday-Friday train ten days later?  Was it a common practice in the sixties for the Rio Grande to keep the same two engines 'paired up' for a few weeks at a time??

- Roosso (MUY) Loco

p.s.  Added 12/19/2020:  The August 16, 1966 date is correct.  See Olaf's post at [ngdiscussion.net] and mine at [ngdiscussion.net] (above) for details.

* Ernie tells me he has 30 of these tin boxes - which hold 300 slides each.
  That's about 9,000 slides in his collection . . .    



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2020 08:28PM by Russo Loco.