Re: 482 at Shalona

Powell 3-chimes have a unique chord that some people don't like. Then again, I've never been able to figure out what is wrong with "some people" . They sound best when you have the shortest (and highest pitched) chamber facing forward. The one we had on 489 was turned that way and it was glorious. 3 chime whistles are very directional, and whatever chime is facing you will be the most prominent, so the "broadside" or "going away pitch" on the three chime is different from the "coming at you" pitch. The D&RGW had at least one Powell in the narrow gauge. In the mid- 1950's it was on 489. Your see it on 489 during the scrapping of Marshall Pass. When 489 came south to Alamosa in 1956, the whistle got appropriated for 490. In the early 1960's it was placed on 487, who carried it until her retirement in Oct. 1967, whereupon it disappeared. 487 had the whistle bell turned so the longest chime and lowest note faced forward, giving a deep almost steamboat tone, which I guess fit 487 in that it was "her sound" and very different from the 5-chimes on the rest of the 480's.

The Powell we had came from Dan Ranger, who borrowed it from another guy years before. When Dan moved to CA in 1990 I became "Keeper of the Powell". I left Chama a few months later, with the Powell in my trunk. It went to CA and back and returned to 489 in 1991, where it stayed until I left in 1998. When I came back in 2001, the Powell was turned to 489 for one last season.
At that point the Powell was returned to Dan.