Re: 58 years ago today - 493 and 483 heading out of Alamosa with the last flanger spreader run

John West Wrote:
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> Really good stuff. I have always wondered what it
> was like in the cabs during that kind of weather,

It's frickin' cold! Your feet are always cold, because the floor is uninsulated, and the wind is whipping though just below it. Every hole and chink in the cab has cold wind blowing through it, especially where the Johnson bar comes through the floor. The boiler doesn't really help too much. Many times when firing, I've draped myself over the fireman's side of the boiler (where it's clear of plumbing to do so) just to soak up some of its warmth.

Having steam cab heaters along the side walls of the cab is a life saver, and they are commonly run most any time that temps are below, say 40°.

We even had one instance where the syphon (the copper tube that connects the boiler to the steam gauge) on one of our engines froze inside the cab while the engine was pushing the Russell plow. The gauge started reading higher than the popping pressure, rising rapidly, requiring removing the syphon and holding it under the injector overflow to thaw it out.