Re: Can D&RGW 483 be the me too 168?

483 was the only operational locomotive in the fall of 1970. 483 had been reflued in 1966, and by virtue of not running at all in 1969, her flue time was good through 1970. 484 was last reflued in 1965, and her time expired in early 1970. She had to get a flue extension to operate in 1971.

Back then locomotives got 48 months of flue time. You could add up your out of service time to extend your flue time to 60 calendar months since the flues were installed. That way 483 was still legal to run in the fall of 1970. 484's 60 months ran out in 1969 or early 1970. After 60 months, you had to request a "flue extension" which was a bit of a process, but you got to keep running one year at a time. 483 eventually got to run until mid-season 1977 on her 1966 flue job. 484 ran through 1980 on her 1965 flue job. From what I can tell, the boilers were still solid, but the running gear (mostly driver tires) got worn to condemning limits.

When the equipment was sent south from Alamosa in Sept, 1970, the train was specifically set up so that 483 was on the head end behind two dump gons full of track ballast, whose primary purpose was the feel out the somewhat spooky track before 483 stepped out onto it.