Re: Adventures on the Narrow Gauge, June '63 to June '64
| April 01, 2020 03:00PM |
Afternoon of Tuesday, September 3, 1963 - Waiting for the Silverton train to return, I wandered back to the engine facilities, and there Lady Luck showed up in the form of two rail fans. One was David Conrad, the other name I can unfortunately not recall. They were driving back from a major narrow gauge adventure in Central America and Mexico, and were stopping in Durango on the way to Chicago to see if anything was happening on the Rio Grande narrow gauge.
A Nicaragua photo taken by David Conrad before the return drive and Durango stop over
I told them what I knew about the Intermountain Express and the freight scheduled to depart from Chama the next morning. They were enthusiastic about Chama, and agreed to take me along! We made a quick stop at my economy lodging, where I was able to get a refund for my second night, but not the first. A painful hit in my extremely limited cash, since I had to pay for another night in Chama. We drove to Chama, and found 492 and 487 in the engine facilities. On Wednesday morning 492 and 487 were basking in the sunshine, my first encounter with both of these engines.
The crew spent the morning making up a full tonnage train of 4 empty gons, 5 box cars, and 8 loaded GRAMPS oil tankers, leaving Chama toward mid-day.
The plan was for 492 to run thru to Alamosa, and 487 to help 492 to Cumbres, then return light engine to Chama to act as 484's helper with the Intermountain Express special the next day.
The train in wide open meadows above Dalton
492 approaching the (old) Coxo crossing
(to be continued)
A Nicaragua photo taken by David Conrad before the return drive and Durango stop over
I told them what I knew about the Intermountain Express and the freight scheduled to depart from Chama the next morning. They were enthusiastic about Chama, and agreed to take me along! We made a quick stop at my economy lodging, where I was able to get a refund for my second night, but not the first. A painful hit in my extremely limited cash, since I had to pay for another night in Chama. We drove to Chama, and found 492 and 487 in the engine facilities. On Wednesday morning 492 and 487 were basking in the sunshine, my first encounter with both of these engines.
The crew spent the morning making up a full tonnage train of 4 empty gons, 5 box cars, and 8 loaded GRAMPS oil tankers, leaving Chama toward mid-day.
The plan was for 492 to run thru to Alamosa, and 487 to help 492 to Cumbres, then return light engine to Chama to act as 484's helper with the Intermountain Express special the next day.
The train in wide open meadows above Dalton
492 approaching the (old) Coxo crossing
(to be continued)
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.