Re: With All This Talk of D&RGW #493....!

In 2014 I was in Silverton and spent three hours photographing 493, as a side note someone else was photographing her as well and we stopped a while to talk. This fellow was sad that 493 was in such terrible shape and that it probably would be a rusty bucket of bolts in a few years. One thing that I pointed out to him was that the 493 was in better hands than he thought, the high altitude actually Is less damaging to these old locomotives than if they were stored at a lower altitude, even with the elements of rain water and snow, the oxidization processes are very slow to change their looks. The only items that looked bad to me were the broken glass in the window frames and the fact that it had many of its apertanance scavenged off her and some areas in the cab frame work and tender were thin walled but that was something that I figured had happened before the Durango and Silverton acquired her. I believe that if this transaction does indeed take place, it will be a win win scenario for the K-37 class knowing that at least three of these big Helga's would be in running or nearly like running order for future generations to enjoy.

Still a Student,

Dave