Re: X483 East, Oct. 16, 1970

Hello!
Thank you for the compliment re the photo; a better one from that trip is posted at the bottom of my profile page. I'm planning to make several of my shots from 1968, '70 & '72 available to Roger Hogan in Chama so he can make up a screen saver to sell for the benefit of the #483 rebuild. Tom Gildersleeve has promised to contribute a couple of shots as well, and hopefully Ernie and Olaf will also have several from the "transition years", 1966-1972. (I'll update my postings with better-quality scans as soon as my back-ordered semi-pro scanner arrives ...)
Per Ernie's book, the ugly brown paint on #483 in the summer and fall of 1970 was left over from the 1968 movie "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys" (the latter obviously referring to the prop crew with the paint).
The details of Extra 483 East on 10/16/70 appeared in a letter to the editor printed in Vintage Rails, May/June 1998, pp 15-17. Let me know if you can't find your copy, and I'll try to dig up the digital version of the letter and send it to you back-channel (or post it if anyone's interested). You'll probably ding me for a major safety violation - running with an under-trained crew - but as it was nearly 35 years ago there's not much that can be done at this point. Let's just say I've learned a lot since then, and MIGHT not do it again - the temptation of riding the caboose of a REAL freight train over Cumbres was just TOO much!!
All the best!
- Russo de los Locos