Re: 480 and 481 along river at Elk Park, 8-17-2019

Greg, actually we were lucky to have two trains on August 17. Yesterday, August 18, a friend and I had a four-hour hike to the flowers, snow fields and lakes of the Bullion King basin above Red Mountain Pass (our dogs had a great time playing in the snow). On the way back, the road north of Red Mountain Pass was backed up as far as you could see due to efforts to retrieve a pickup truck that had gone over the edge with fatal consequences. So we decided to turn around and have lunch in Silverton. At 2:20 we expected to hear four whistles at the 10 minute all-aboard call for the second train. There was no whistle, so we went to investigate and found the first train, scheduled for a 1:45 departure, waiting for the track to open up. Talking to the engineer, it turned out that the engine of the second train had broken a link on the valve gear above Elk Park, and a speeder with welding equipment had been sent to weld the link. About 3 pm the all aboard whistle blew, so it appeared that the second train would be pulling into Silverton within about 10 minutes. Being in non-railfan company, we didn't wait for it, but were glad that the trains would be running, even if a bit late. On such a beautiful day the passengers would certainly still enjoy a great adventure.