Earl, when the December 29, 1965 train left the Farm Yard/South Yard/Departure yard, the next pipe train was already made up in that yard (as seen in Ernie's photos. So I think that the local Rio Grande people really wanted to keep freight moving on the narrow gauge, and that the flanger spreader trains were not just operated to run up expenses. That pipe train finally got out of Alamosa on January 13, and turned out to be the last westbound revenue train that winter. I am sure that the Denver office was a bit less enthusiastic about winter narrow gauge freights. Certainly from a financial perspective, trucking was far more cost effective than the narrow gauge.