......its just the beginning.
The great thing about the diesels in Chama is they are big enough to do some much needed work, but not big enough to pull the passenger trains.
Back in the dark days of the early 1980's, Kyle thought about buying diesels from the recently shut down WP&Y to replace the steam locomotives. "We'll maybe run steam on weekends, or keep the steam locomotives at Cumbres to pull the trains east from there. We'll save a bunch of money" were the words we got from some bosses. The results from most of us were stern scowls.
"what do you guys think?" was the next line.
George Knauff said he'd go home and retire. He wanted nothing to do with the project.
I don't recall Russ' comment.
I said something to the effect "well, if I am going to run diesels, I'll go work for the Santa Fe and make REAL money...."
We obviously showed "no confidence" in the proposal. But, for a while we were really worried.
Luckily for all of us, either WP&Y didn't want to sell or the price was too high or the Commission had no money to buy the things.
To this day when I hear wild-eyed geeky comments about how cool it would be to see WP&Y ALCOs and GE's climb Cumbres, I still shudder a bit. It almost happened - permanently. Be thankful you can still see and hear 480's give their all climbing Cumbres.