Hi John K, actually the photos you think you saw before were mine in an experimental posting I did in trying to figure out how to tell a photo story on the NGDF. That experiment dealt mainly with cutting in the mid train helper in Antonito on the October 2, 1967 train. It also included the Dog-and-498 shot in La Jara. I don't think the crew made any remarks about being on the roof of Lava tank. I had been on the roof with Ernie Robart a year before, and I doubt we were the only ones, since much later a smoker on the roof caught the tank on fire.
As long as we are on the October 2 train subject, here is a shot of 498 and 493 heading out to the Alamosa narrow gauge departure yard early in the morning.