Chasing 493 from Alamosa to Chama with Jeff and Ernie on December 5, 1967

56 years ago, on December 5, 1967, engine 493 started the last westbound freight of 1967 out of Alamosa for Farmington. Two weeks earlier, on November 22, 493 had hauled 17 boxcar loads of
drill mud to Chama, returning the next day with Skyline Lumber loads, leaving the box cars in Chama.



The December 5 train was to run to Farmington over 3 days, picking up the box cars of drill mud left in Chama along the way. Five railfans, happy to see more narrow gauge action, set out for Alamosa to capture this train on film and movies. Alva Morrison, movie maker for Sunday River Productions, set out from Massachusetts. Jim Marcus drove from Ohio, Ernie Robart and Jeff Stebbins came from Albuquerque, and I came from Alamogordo, NM. As students from the University of New Mexico, Ernie and Jeff could spare only one day, Tuesday December 5. Being in a holding pattern, waiting for word from the Air Force Officer Training School, I was a free agent and planned to chase all three days to Farmington, as was the plan for Jim Marcus.

NOTE: All color photos are by Jeff Stebbins except for several photos by Ernie, where so noted, that Wes Pfarner provided from the Friends photo collection. All black&white photos are by me. I want to thank Jeff and Wes for their effort in scanning and making these photos available. Most of the following photos are by Jeff.

On Tuesday the departure wasn't until mid-morning, providing an opportunity for photos of two of the principal chasers - an extremely rare event, as we figured we would always be seeing each other. We seldom thought of sparing a few film frames for friends.

Ernie, age 20, guiding 493



Jeff doing the same at age 21



493 is getting a roll on her train out of Alamosa





Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2023 04:10PM by Olaf Rasmussen.