The caption below the map in the image you posted says "GROSS tonnages" – the total weight of the trains hauled over each section of the line (see [
ngdiscussion.net], below). And the westbound trains weren't all empties - they were mostly loads of drill pipe, drilling mud components and other oilfield supplies headed to Farmington, plus IIRC occasional carloads of new (empty) bottles headed to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Durango. The tank cars were filled with GRAMP
S Chromo Crude (the oil, not the namesake beer) heading east to the Oriental Refinery in Alamosa, and empties heading west back to the loading dock in Chama.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2018 09:43PM by Russo Loco.