Re: How I first met Earl Knoob

John West Wrote:
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> I remember riding one of those vans from Chama to
> catch a train in Antonito. Going down the east
> side of La Manga it started making funny noises
> and at the bottom it died. I think it threw a rod
> but I don't remember the details. What I remember
> is being very concerned that I would miss my
> train. The driver noticed my concerned look and
> volunteered, "Don't worry, you won't miss your
> train, I'm the engineer". That was the first time
> I met Earl.
>
> JBWX

I remember that trip. Russ was driving the other van. He went ahead, and sent one of the other guys back to pick us up, while he got the engine out on the train and got an air test going. We did a "Le Mans" start in Antonito that morning. We rolled in, I got on the engine, 11 passengers jumped on and away we went. One of the not-so-smart things management decided to do was to replace the motors in the vans at 100k miles. They were running fine, not using oil, but someone decided that 100 grand was all they were good for and arranged to get new engines put in them. One van went through 2 "new" engines before it found a healthy one. The other one blew up 3 engines. That morning was number 2 for that van.