Earl - Part of my question was....Is this a single engine freight or is there a Mid-train helper. I would think if its a single engine train being in November----It might be working harder so it needed to stop here, plus the regular stops.
I never saw a train take water at Los Pinos nor heard of any in the old days. It isn't that far from Osier to Cumbres, where they would stop anyway if they had a helper and to set retainers for the downgrade to Chama. Maybe the tank was there for early ops where they had those early smaller engines, and you could never have enough water tanks online! I know Olaf posted several freights around November of 67 where 493 was working solo, so I think that might be the case here, but until he responds its all a guess.
Greg