Re: 493 vintage film - 07/17/68

Greg Scholl Wrote:
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> Okay you are showing a westbound out of
> Antonito and talking about something that
> happened the next day, right!  Yes, there
> was one such trip [in '68] where they ran
> two Cumbres turns from Chama.

drgwk37 Wrote:
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> Yep, this was the first part of that trip!


Ernie has the correct date(s) for you, Greg & William -

Per the caption to a photo on page 79 of 'Rio Grande Narrow Gauge – The Final Years, Alamosa to Chama' by J. P. Hereford and E. W. Robart,

"Twelve empty boxcars and seven loads from Skyline Lumber Co. in Chama, led by 483 with 493 helping, near milepost 331.4 between Coxo and Windy Point – seen from the top of Windy Point – on July 18, 1968."

A second photo on the following page is captioned,

"483 approaching Windy Point, July 18, 1968.  After these cars reached Cumbres, the two locomotives returned to Chama for eleven carloads of lumber out of Durango.  [This] was the only Cumbres turn made during 1968, and the last operated by the Rio Grande."

Technically, a "Cumbres Turn" describes a train hauled to Cumbres and left there, after which the locomotives return to Chama for additional cars.  There was one Cumbres Turn early that day, and then a second run up the hill by #483 with #493 helping, then #493 ran ahead to Alamosa while #483 assembled both halves of the train and headed east . . .   I.E. a "Cumbres turn" means the locos return to Chama, otherwise it's a straight run-through to Alamosa.

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



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2018 07:53PM by Russo Loco.