Re: Thanks Ed another up-date

Glad to hear that you are making good progress on #497. I hope it is out of the shop and earning its keep soon. I have to take a minor exception to one comment. To suggest that this is the first time since it was built that it is within 1/32 of square (I dont know if you mean spring rigging, tram, or valve timing) is to suggest that no one before you ever was capable of work as good as yours or that no one before you ever cared how the job turned out. Much good work was done by the men in Durango before we brought the #497 to Chama and we were very proud of the work we did boring the valves and cylinders, making new valve and piston rings, building flue sheets, riveting them in, refluing, and solving the problems of getting it to run on the uneven track surface of the C&TS. Please remember that steam locomotives are constantly attempting to dis-assemble themselves and the good work you are now doing will some day need to be done again.