Re: Chasing 484, 487, and 498 with Ernie and Joe Hereford on June 30, 1967

After 484 finished looping around Tanglefoot Curve, we headed back to the VW Beetle and drove to Antonito and then to the Lava pump house. From the pump house we scrambled up that steep slope to Lava Tank, and Ernie and I climbed to the roof of the tank. I was a bit reluctant to climb up there, but Ernie had been on the rof before and assured me that it was perfectly safe. Joe stayed on the ground for some track level shots.

We made it to the roof top in time to catch helper 498 drifting down grade toward the tank



Ernie caught 498 turning the big horseshoe curve beyond the tank



Joe got a shot of 498 heading into a sea of sagebrush beyond the horse shoe curve



By this time I had shot my last frame of Kodacolor, but Ernie was able to get a shot of 484 rolling past with the long string of empties



After the passing of 498 and 484 we scrambled back down to the pump house, successfully dodging any rattlesnakes on descent. We then headed to Antonito and the 3-rail raceway. Surprisingly, 484 made a stop at La Jara and took a fill of water at the small La Jara tank. It is the only time I ever witnessed an east-bound train stopping at the tank, as seen in Ernie's photo



We continued following 484 to Alamosa. By Alamosa it was getting pretty late and time to head back to Albuquerque, drop off Joe at his place, and for me to spend another night at Ernie's before driving back to Las Cruces. No Farmington chase on this trip, but memorable none the less.

Note: talking to Joe Hereford lately, he has agreed to look thru his collection of scanned narrow gauge photos, focusing on Chama to Farmington, but there may also be some good views from this trip that could be edited into this thread at a future date