Re: The naked east leg

John West Wrote:
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> Presumably that reflected an expectation that when
> snow was deep the plow trains would (normally) be
> coming west from Antonito and could clear the east
> leg before going down the hill to Chama.  The pri-
> mary users, the Cumbres turns and helpers, would
> only have back through new snow.  If things got
> bad and they had to call a rotary out of Chama to
> plow up the hill they'd just have to improvise.

BrianJ Wrote:
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> This is the first explanation I have seen that ex-
> plains why the west leg is covered and the east
> leg is not.  I, too, have been confused by the fact
> that the Chama Cumbres Turns used the wye the
> most.


Right On, Brian -

. . .  But only AFTER a flanger / spreader train from Alamosa had cleared the long stretch of moderate uphill railroad from Lava or Big Horn to Cumbres (including the east leg of the wye), and then – with help from gravity instead of opposition – the relatively short but steep downhill portion from Cumbres to Chama.

A day or two later when the flanger / spreader headed east from Chama the tracks would usually still be clear, and common practice was to add a few cars of eastbound freight as far as Cumbres to lighten the load of – or eliminate the need for – a subsequent Cumbres Turn, as seen in this previously posted photo by Tom Gildersleeve:

Photo copyright © 1963, 2008 by Tom Gildersleeve - All Rights Reserved.

- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2021 06:29PM by Russo Loco.