Re: What year did this happen? 483 494

483's tender had lots of evidence of the mishap. The entire tank had a slight twist, and there were several welded up seams and a patch on the right front corner. The frame was bent over the rear bolster, making the end sill sit crooked. A large wedge was installed between the coupler pocket and frame to level the coupler out. Even with this, the couple hung low and was barely legal coupler height.

483's tender tank went with the 482, the 483's tender frame is still in Chama.


I have a copy of Bob Shock's statement about the wreck. He said they were going down the hill about 15 mph when he saw the curve ahead of 483 begin to kick out and kink ahead of the engine. He said he looked over to Jack and told him "hang on, we're going on the ground". As he said this, there was a mighty bang, and a huge slack run in. When he looked back ahead, 483 was gone from his view. The accident happened about as fast as it takes to read it. Paul Mayer had no chance to get out before 483 came over on top of him. This was the last fatal accident on the D&RGW narrow gauge.

...and it happened 6 days after I was born.