Re: #497 as #498 on 08/29/18?

jonathan cordova Wrote (approximately):
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> Yes, it does.  It's O-K.  I have
> the O-K from Chama.


I sure hope John Bush and/or Tim Tennant will chime in here and verify this!

August 29, 2018 - the 50^th Anniversary of the very last D&RGW revenue freight over Cumbres Pass - is just 19 months from tomorrow.
Is there ANY chance that #497 could be repaired sufficiently to make just ONE run from Chama to Antonito, renumbered as #498, to enable a reënactment of this histöric event to be held?   #484 was at the rear of that last train on 08/29/68, helping move 14 boxcars filled with Durango lumber from Chama to Cumbres.   Even if #497 (as #498) is operated with barely enough pressure to pull herself and only two or three empty boxcars up the grade, #484 should be able to pull one caboose and push enough empties for a credible replica of that last train to make a Fiftieth Anniversary celebration worthwhile.  Here's one of Ernie's photos of the last freight:

Photo Copyright © 1968, 2013 by Ernest W. Robart - All Rights Reserved.
(See [ngdiscussion.net] for additional photos.)

The previous day #484, with #483 helping from Alamosa to Cumbres, brought 18 cars of oilfield supplies and two flats of wallboard - all headed to Farmington - over the hill to Chama.  The first thirty miles or so of this run would be somewhat difficult to re-enact, but all that would be needed for a replica from Antonito west on 08/28/18 is #484 and another K-36 renumbered as #483, several boxcars, and a couple of flats with fake loads:


- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2017 03:16PM by Russo Loco.