Michael wrote
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>on the C&TSRR it has to be another steam locomotive because the diesels can only get a couple of cars up the hill.
>There's something about that magic of knowing that the steam engines aren't the show ponies,
>but the backbone of the railroad.
The reason isn't very obvious,
the D&RGW wanted to quit the the Narrow gauge and not attempt to recoup the investment in proper Road Diesel-Electrics on marginal traffic lines.
Hence no real Diesels for the C&TS (or D&S) to have inherited (or purchased) and have available to take up the slack. I often wonder just what the C&TS could have looked like had that been the case the Grande had attempted conversion before getting out in 1968.
Down here we are lucky to have a different attitude and can see a 1956 built 4-8-2 running coupled with a 1957 built G-12, pulling the same vintage carriages both pulled in service and both owned by a preservation society all the while looking very sharp.