Re: Big Day In Chama *PIC*

Make that 11 Green cars, a rider gon, a caboose, and a water car. 463 on the point, 487 the road engine. The crews were really fired up for this one, and it promised to be a challenging but great day. Jeff Stebbins and Jeremy Garcia on the road engine; Bob Wright and on the helper.
Unfortunately, the coal delivery truck had turned over on La Manga pass the other day and when they cleaned up the mess, they just scooped up all the coal along with a lot of Colorado dirt. Nobody noticed until the fires started acting funny. The train rolled into the narrows and stopped. After getting up steam it rolled to Lobato and stopped again. The crew dumped fires and started over, while two relief firemen were sent up from Chama to trim the garbage out of the coal on the tenders.
Picture of the day (which I will NOT publish on the internet this year, is Jeff Stebbins, myself and several passengers, carrying armloads of old tie chunks to help get 487s fire started up.
Once steam was up with a good fire, the two engines and crews did a masterful job of getting the train up the hill with nary a slip that I could hear. Even stopped at Cresco for water, and left without slip. I had bet that we would have to drift back and make a run for it. The run around Coxo curve was breathtaking!
The passengers mostly loved it. They all had an option to take a bus back to Chama from Lobato, but only 20 took the offer. Those that stayed got a real taste of mountain railroading, and a few extra hours on the train at no extra charge. Returned to Chama at around 7:45 PM.
Biggest mess of the day was all the irate people who had been double-booked. Plenty of seats but once the reservation system failed.