Re: GLR #40

The 40 sat on the back track at Central City for a couple of years. The Steam dome (cover) sat atop the cab roof for a while while boiler work was being done.
Whe the 40 first arrived in Central City it had a "Kansas City Rake" to it (the rear sat lower than the front). Seems that the spring hangers were messed up. The forces at the CCNG rearranged them correctly and it seemed to do no good. When she was unloaded from the truck in Silver Plume, lo and behold she sat perfectly straight and has sat so ever since. I guess she just needed to be boomered down to let her spring back to the proper position.
If the 40 didn't run in Central City, then I must have fired it the first time in Central America, because I was familiar with its foibles (and the fact that the firing valve had to be handled while standing up back then) before it reached Silver Plume.
Being the lazy and sentimental sort, I always had a soft spot in my heart for the 44, she was cantankerous, the Firemans side injector would only work for me when it was really hot (I knew the trick to make it work and taught it to Mike Ramsey, Shannon Douglass, etc.) You could fire it sitting down and actually see your stack from inside the cab. Best of all, Roy Breffle could make her sing. 44 could even put up with the abuse of the novice firemen constantly relighting the firing valve off the hot bricks. The 40 was much more ocmplete in her arrival thatn the 44, however. When the 44 went through Mexico, all of the brass was stripped from her, bell whistle, all the cab fittings. We had to refit her with whatever Lindsey and Associates could purchase. The 44 even used an ex-D&RG five chime whistle. The 40 had her own, since it was removed to a place of safe keeping BEFORE shipment.
The 40 preceeded the 14 (at that time CC&N 4) to Central City. For a long time the 40 had a "Burlington Route" logo on the mountain (non-show) side in Central City that was put there one night in a midinight raid. The logo was painted out in Silver Plume with a big black box I then painted the "GB&L" on the side of hers and her sister's tenders over a couple of slow afternoons.
Rick Steele