491 is shown stuck in a snow drift at Long Creek, MP 321 between Los Pinos and Osier. 491's "disappearance" was the beginning of the great snow blockade of 1952, that disrupted traffic west of Alamosa for a couple of months. Both Bob Richardson and John Norwood thoroughly documented this event, but here is a very short version...
On the evening of Dec. 29, 1950, a 3-engine hill turn departed Cumbres. I don't have documentation for the third engine, but the other two were 498 and 491. It was raining in Chama when they left, but it quickly turned to wet snow and the wind came up resulting in blizzard conditions at Cumbres. The dispatcher's instructions were to send 498 and the unknown engine back to Chama, 491 to run light to Alamosa. So, 491 headed out into the blizzard, while the other two engines returned to Chama.
A few hours later, the dispatcher had not heard anything from 491. It had not tripped the "bell" at Big Horn, Antonito had not reported it by. He phoned the section house at Osier. They had not seen any signs of 491 either. The dispatcher then sent flanger trains from both Chama and Alamosa. The Chama crew and engines consisted of the same as used on last nights hill turn. Both trains headed into the jaws of the storm. The Chama crew managed to get around Windy Point only to get caught in a snowslide at MP 331, just west of Cumbres. The engines and flanger were buried, they were going nowhere for a while. One fireman was left to watch the engines, the rest of the crew waded through the deep snow to the Cumbres section house.
The flanger train from Alamosa made it as far as Osier, where they got hung up in a deep drift at MP 319, across the valley from Osier. In the process of trying to get unstuck, they derailed the flanger and ripped the front drawbar out of engine 492. They too were stuck tight. In 12 hours they had managed to get 5 engines stuck in the snow. At this time there were only the 10 490's and 488 on the lines west of Alamosa. The rest up in Salida. 484 was under overhaul in Alamosa, along with another 490 in for other repairs. That left 9 engines - 5 of which were stuck in the snow.
Two 490's came east from Durango, leaving 488 at home "just in case". Once in Chama and rested the Durango crew would head up the hill with Rotary OM. Alamosa had but two engines in service. Not wanting to be left with no engines to mount a rescue, OY headed west with but one locomotive. The OM had several mechanical failures and took several days to reach the stranded flanger train at MP 331, where it had to be dug out and the consist hauled back to Coxo to clear the mainline. The flanger train's crew managed to keep one of their engines alive, and it was added to consist. With only one engine, OY took a few days to get to Osier, where they dug out the train there, put 492 to the side and added the one remaining engine to the Rotary train.
So, what of 491? Once the OM reached Cumbres, Trainmaster John Norwood put on his snowshoes, and dragging toboggan of supplies started hiking east. He found 491 at Long Creek, with a very hungry crew. He took the above photo of the entombed 491. They then snowshoed to Osier, across Cascade Creek Trestle.
It took several more days of plowing and digging, rescuing 491 from the drift. The two plow trains met at Los Pinos while the storms still raged. Once the Rotarys got to the opposite terminals, they were turned and plowed back across the railroad.
Eldon Morgan left Alamosa on the morning of December 27, firing 491 for John Stephens. He spent the 28th making hill turns and was on 498 the night 491 was sent east into the blizzard. He was on 498 when they got stuck in the slide at 331 near Windy Point, and spent a few days at Cumbres until the OM arrived from Chama. He then was placed on the OM's crew and he fired OM for several days, then switched to engine 495. Finally he got switched to OY on Jan 12, and came back home to Alamosa, 17 days after he left. On January 20, he went back out firing OY, arriving in Chama on the 29th. On the 30th he left Chama on 497 shoving OY, finally getting home on Feb 1, another 13 days on the road....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2020 01:36PM by Earl.
