Re: 493 heading into snow country on December 5 - 6, 1967
| August 23, 2020 10:47PM |
Re: JBWX question about plowing the Cumbres Pass road in 1967 - I don't believe that the dirt road was actually plowed. Chama didn't have enough snow to make the kind of snow berm that you describe that totally blocked the road. VW beetles were pretty good in snow as long as the snow wasn't deep enough to fully come up to the flat bottom plate, where the friction against the plate was great enough to keep the car from moving. But...the fog of time is dense enough to rule out that some plowing was done on the road.
Here is another photo of cold 464 on the morning of Thursday, December 14, 1967.
.
It was still snowing as I finally left Durango and drove via Moab and Price to Salt Lake City, pretty much all the way in second gear at low speed on snow covered roads. People would pass me, and later I would see them in the ditch. At this pace I didn't get to Salt Lake until around midnight, but I didn't slide off the road. The most exciting event was being passed by the brilliantly lit and toasty looking California Zephyr on the west side of Soldier summit. I certainly envied those happy passengers.
On Friday the weather got even worse. North of Ogden I got into a fierce ground blizzard where all you could see was the white center stripe for a few yards ahead. Finally I couldn't even see that anymore, so I stopped. A vehicle came up behind me and passed me on the left. All I saw was two red tail lights going into a 45 degree vertical angle and disappearing. When the blizzard lightened a little, I got going again.
On Saturday, crossing over the Blue Mountains, the weather got better, and there was heavy freight action on the Union Pacific. Finally, coming the wheat plateaus northwest of Pendleton on back roads, I got my first impressive view of the Columbia. After checking into a Richland motel, I connected with Carolyn and we made a plan for Sunday. I really only knew about three things in Washington State: The Mount Rainier volcano, the battleship Missouri in Bremerton, and the Space Needle in Seattle. So on Sunday we drove more icy roads to White Pass for first views of Mount Rainier
On Monday I started working at Hanford and would continue for 34 years. In Durango 473 switched the loaded cars for transferring the loads to trucks.
On Tuesday 497 left Durango with a caboose to retrieve the four box car loads of drill mud at Gato, but derailed about 10 a.m. on snow and ice at Falfa. 473 left Durango at noon and pulled 497 back on the track. 473 returned to Durango and 497 continued to Gato and brought back the 4 loaded cars. These four cars then spent another week in Durango before delivery in Farmington.
On Saturday, December 23, Andy Paine took this photograph of 473 steaming quietly in the snow (from the Iron Horse News). On the same day Carolyn and I made a first trip on the North Coast Limited from Pasco to Seattle to explore the Missouri and the Space Needle
On Wednesday, December 27, 497 made a roundtrip to Farmington to deliver the four cars of drill mud. This was 497's last run in freight service for the Rio Grande. The engine was not used in 1968, and would not run again until re-activated for Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec service many years later.
On Thursday, December 28, Andy Paine took this night photo of 497 (from the Iron Horse News).
On Friday, December 29, 497 was spotted outside the engine house next to the stationary boiler and killed. As reported by Robert Richardson, at 9:30 a.m. 473 was also killed for the winter.
As for me, I would be joining Ernie Robart and Jeff Stebbins on May 28, 1968 for a chase of the first freight of 1968, the "Mad Dash", the one-day run of 473 and 478 from Alamosa to Durango, as seen here in a photo by Ernie Robart
(to be continued to tie up some loose ends)
Here is another photo of cold 464 on the morning of Thursday, December 14, 1967.
.
It was still snowing as I finally left Durango and drove via Moab and Price to Salt Lake City, pretty much all the way in second gear at low speed on snow covered roads. People would pass me, and later I would see them in the ditch. At this pace I didn't get to Salt Lake until around midnight, but I didn't slide off the road. The most exciting event was being passed by the brilliantly lit and toasty looking California Zephyr on the west side of Soldier summit. I certainly envied those happy passengers.
On Friday the weather got even worse. North of Ogden I got into a fierce ground blizzard where all you could see was the white center stripe for a few yards ahead. Finally I couldn't even see that anymore, so I stopped. A vehicle came up behind me and passed me on the left. All I saw was two red tail lights going into a 45 degree vertical angle and disappearing. When the blizzard lightened a little, I got going again.
On Saturday, crossing over the Blue Mountains, the weather got better, and there was heavy freight action on the Union Pacific. Finally, coming the wheat plateaus northwest of Pendleton on back roads, I got my first impressive view of the Columbia. After checking into a Richland motel, I connected with Carolyn and we made a plan for Sunday. I really only knew about three things in Washington State: The Mount Rainier volcano, the battleship Missouri in Bremerton, and the Space Needle in Seattle. So on Sunday we drove more icy roads to White Pass for first views of Mount Rainier
On Monday I started working at Hanford and would continue for 34 years. In Durango 473 switched the loaded cars for transferring the loads to trucks.
On Tuesday 497 left Durango with a caboose to retrieve the four box car loads of drill mud at Gato, but derailed about 10 a.m. on snow and ice at Falfa. 473 left Durango at noon and pulled 497 back on the track. 473 returned to Durango and 497 continued to Gato and brought back the 4 loaded cars. These four cars then spent another week in Durango before delivery in Farmington.
On Saturday, December 23, Andy Paine took this photograph of 473 steaming quietly in the snow (from the Iron Horse News). On the same day Carolyn and I made a first trip on the North Coast Limited from Pasco to Seattle to explore the Missouri and the Space Needle
On Wednesday, December 27, 497 made a roundtrip to Farmington to deliver the four cars of drill mud. This was 497's last run in freight service for the Rio Grande. The engine was not used in 1968, and would not run again until re-activated for Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec service many years later.
On Thursday, December 28, Andy Paine took this night photo of 497 (from the Iron Horse News).
On Friday, December 29, 497 was spotted outside the engine house next to the stationary boiler and killed. As reported by Robert Richardson, at 9:30 a.m. 473 was also killed for the winter.
As for me, I would be joining Ernie Robart and Jeff Stebbins on May 28, 1968 for a chase of the first freight of 1968, the "Mad Dash", the one-day run of 473 and 478 from Alamosa to Durango, as seen here in a photo by Ernie Robart
(to be continued to tie up some loose ends)
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.