Re: 488’s First Revenue Trip of 2022

Part of the reason we do this is to preserve and prolong historic practices. While modern technology has much to offer, the intent of operating this equipment is to promote and represent the way things were done in the steam era. That’s why I tried to replicate the front end this locomotive had when new, with a few exceptions like where I improvised with electric welding in some places that would have been bolted or riveted historically.

The few design changes that I did end up making were derived from industry literature from the time, including the 1945 Baldwin Standards which aided me in calculating some of the dimensions based on the flue area and etc. For our operational needs, and in the case of draft specifically, I’d say historic design and construction methods are plenty good enough for the narrow gauge.

Dylan Hutson
Ex-Cumbres & Toltec Scenic
Mechanical Dept.