Re: #476-Down for the count

Aww....this bad news Mr.Coke. In the brief time I spent working in Durango at the end of the Grandes reign, the 476 was by far the best steamer.
Lee O. always told me it was because it still retained it's Johnson bar, rather than the power reverse, that is why he always claimed it as his favorite. I know it was by far the most forgiving to fire of the three K-28's.
Your tale of the cylinder block interests me. One evening in 1979, Manuel Pachecio brought in a piece of metal that he had found in the track. It was freshly broken from something with a considerable amount of grease and crud on it, and looked all the world like a loco part. When I left at the end of the season, they still had not determined where it had come from, and I suspect that it was forgotten. Do you suppose this was the beginning of this problem? Just a thought.
---Roper Rat---