Re: Antonito 1981

Yep, 1981. The crew shot shows Freddie Salazar on the left and Sam Ruybal on the right. Freddie left after 1981. I don't remember who the guy in the center is. I suspect he was a motor car operator. The engineer is Bill Paluska. He was hired for the 1981 season after all the engineers quit and moved to Durango to work for the new D&S. They promoted George Knauff to run out of Chama, Marvin Casias and Dale Martinez were still firing. Jim Shawcroft helped out for a while, but had to go back to his job on the Rio Grande. Scenic Railways put out a call looking for experienced steam engineers. Bill was working for the DOT test track over in Pueblo and came over to run on the east side.

I fired for Bill a couple of days a week in Sept. and Oct. 1981. He seemed to be an OK guy, and handled the trains OK.

The cars on the head end of the train were overflow cars used for tour groups. They were boxcars opened up on one side only. We set them out at Cumbres. That is why 487 is seen up at Cumbres without the train. These cars were Scenic Rys property. When they left the next winter, the Commission didn't by the cars. Some eventually got sold to the Rio Chama Rv Park.