A couple of instances come to mind in reading this:
First was a twilight double header in 1973 out of Antonito. 487 had lost her compressor and was unable to run to Chama that day. 484 had been dispatched to the rescue but didn't get to Antonito until about 5 PM. In the meantime one of the "display" 490s had yielded her pump for the 487 and the shop guys had used a front bucket tractor to make the swap. I had just driven in from San Diego to spend a month as a car attendant and gone on to Antonito when I heard of the problems. So here we were with two engines and a train that had to go back to Chama and maybe 75 hearty passengers who had hung around all day. "Wanna ride?" was the call and "Sure!" was the answer. Off we went about 6 PM and, although it wasn't necessary, the train went doubleheaded until well after sunset just for the photos. And great they were. I remember Big Horn and the Whiplash at sunset, Phantom Curve with the "ghosts" dancing on the hillsides propelled by the locomotive's headlight, the sea of stars at Cumbres and the surreal decent of Cumbres Pass in the darkness. We had no food. Most were dead tired. But there were a lot of happy customers and a few happy freeloaders who poured off the train in Chama.
Second is my first experience with the American Freedom Train. We caught her in the City of Industry about Midnight. First glimpse of a standard gauge steam locomotive under power in about 25 years. Across the yard she comes with Mars light dancing, exhaust booming and at least two, maybe three whistles punctuating the LA smog! Fantastic! Chasing her down to San Diego was pretty cool but that first sight thing was awesome!
Third was a bit of dumb luck. I was in Durango in '95 and saw their recently renovated 0500 caboose, crowded with happy passengers as I chased the Cascade turn one evening and said, "I gotta do that." So I go down to the depot the next day and buy a ticket to ride the caboose that evening. I show up at train time and I'm the only passenger in the caboose. I had the 0500 all to myself with my favorite Rio Grande mike, the 476 on the point for the whole evening. That night there was a brilliant full moon lighting our way through the Animas gorge and here I was, all by my lonesome in the cupola just drinking it all in. The smell of the pines and the coal smoke, the glow of the firebox when the fireman stoked the fire, the moon and stars and river and the creaking and clanking of that fabulous little caboose. Man I can see it all.
Yep, steam trains at night are something special.
