Greg Scholl Wrote:
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> I remember the van scenario of 1985. Kathi and I
> were there in October and shot the C&TS over the
> weekend, cause they were running doubleheaders
> every day. Then during the week we shot stuff at
> the D&S, and came back for one more long weekend
> on the C&TS. We rode one day from Chama through
> to Antonito. They did some switching in Osier
> during a hail/thunder event. I shot video at
> Osier and as far as Rock Tunnel. One of my
> scenes at Osier is a guy oiling around the engine
> on the adjacent track to our train. It turned out
> to be a guy named Earl Knoob. Later the engine
> powered us to Antonito, where we indeed took the
> C&TS van back to Chama. The driver was the
> engineer, Earl Knoob. It was one of those 7-9
> passenger vans. I sat in the front for leg room,
> and Earl and I chatted most of the way back to
> Chama.
> One comment on your photos. The railroad sure
> was clean looking in 1981-2, with little foliage
> near the tracks. Look at Cresco, and the narrows
> for instance. Also the Cresco shot was before it
> was rebuilt(the tank that is). A remnant from the
> Grande days! Interesting historical imagery
> Earl.
> Greg
The next year - 1983 - the Company bought two new Ford 12 Passenger vans. Which really were 11 passengers and the driver. With this deal the four man crew of each train worked through every day and drove the other way. I'd either run the train the Antonito and drive back, or visa-versa. It was a better deal for the enginemen because they kept the same engine all day long. They tried using the old van as an overflow vehicle until it pretty much died in the harness. I drove it back one afternoon. While the Fords with their big 460 4-barrels thundered up the hill in second gear, the old Plymouth with a 318 2-barrel crawled along in first at 18mph. When I back to Chama, as soon as the engine went down to idle, I could hear ominous knocking under the hood, and the oil pressure light was glowing bright red. I opened the hood, pulled the dipstick and it was bone dry. One of the mechanical types came by and to see and said he had just put 3 quarts of oil in before it left that afternoon. So in a 100 mile trip to Antonito and back the old gal drank 5 quarts of oil. She was done...
I can't remember when Cresco Tank was rebuilt. I imagine we will find out as I plow through the slide collection. Another original tank is Los Pinos which got a complete replacement tub in the early 80's. The new one has a different roof pitch that the one seen in these view. In the early 80's we didn't even think about using Cresco, I imagine it was pretty much dry from all the leaks it had.
