Re: Marshall Pass Scrap Trains

The narrow gauge portion of the Valley Line was scrapped in 1951. Prior to that, the K-37's that had been power for Marshall Pass and Monarch were transferred to Alamosa and K-36's were sent to Salida. From my research, the only K-36's that did NOT see service in Salida after the Valley Line was removed were 484 and 488. 480, 481, 482, 483, 485, 486, 487 and 489 all saw service in Salida after 1951. 486 and 487 were the first to leave Salida on standard gauge flatcars in late 1952, sent to Alamosa because of the growing oilfiled traffic into Farmington. 485, of course, was wrecked when it "slept-walked" into the Salida turntable pit. It had just been recently overhauled and many of its parts found their way onto 489, it being the last locomotive overhauled in Salida.

489 handled most of the scrap trains on Marshall Pass, being operated by the scrapper.

One side note: A lot of the summer labor on the Marshall scrap trains was provided by the Western State College football team as their summer "practice." They handily won their Conference football title that fall.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2015 06:51PM by Wade Hall.