Re: 493 getting a drink at Lava Tank

My recollection from back in the day is that engines topped off coal and water at Antonito and always took water at Sublete, and usually did not stop at either La Jara or Lava. But I am sure there were exceptions, and there are others here that may have better info. When Olaf took the picture in 1967 the narrow gauge was winding down freight operations, and I wonder if the stop at Lava reflected deteriorating track conditions or similar issues that made it prudent for crews to take water whenever they could as protection against the unexpected.

With regard to the future of Lava tank, various discussion here left me with the impression that repairing the pump house and pipeline would be very difficult. However I think it was John Bush who came up with the idea of restoring the tank and hauling water in by tank car so that it would be available for emergency use. Photo charters often have required a tank car to be spotted at Lava either because they were not going to Sublete, runbys consume too much water, or the smaller engines with smaller tanks can't make it to Sublete. So some kind of return of the tank to service might justify the effort.

Edit. I readily defer to Olaf who says WB trains did stop for water at Lava, and he was there far more often than I. My conclusion was based mostly on the assumption that they did not need water to get from Antonito to Sublete, but Earl says they probaby did. So I'll switch to the stopped at Lava crowd.

JBWX



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2022 10:32PM by John West.