Re: Dog catcher?

These are the fun ones to sort out. The westbound crew on the 497 did hog out with 16 hrs 40 min on duty. I wasn't paying attention before, but did 497 have a helper come down ahead of it?
Another thing - trains were limited to 70 cars Alamosa - Cumbres, but only 60 mixed empties and loads. So for every 70 car train that headed west, 10 cars got left at the top for the next westbound crew to take off the hill.
I think I'd side with Mr. Chama Agent with the yard being plugged up and the crew told to set out some of thier train at Lobato. The crew that went up to get the remainder of the train used an east end engineer and fireman (probably a helper crew rested up) and a west end train crew along with a west end caboose.
fun stuff.