Quoted
And it would be foolish to expect this equipment wouldn't need special attention every time it went on the road. The wood vs steel frame issues are a very important consideration. While I don't believe there is any formal rule, Earl will tell you that in his time, they didn't like wood framed cars in the train, and that hasn't changed.
I can’t speak for any exact policy’s the C&TS has with wood vs steel frame equipment today
But I can say that in 1997 I started a policy of only allowing wood frame equipment follow the
Steel frame sleds up or down the west side of Cumbres. By this time we had accumulated 12 sleds that have GTR rating of 44,000 lbs on a 4% grade.
Having the wood frame equipment in massive tension or compression with respect to the locos & sleds was a worry of mine.
But Having the wood frame equipment follow the steel frame equipment in either direction posses no problems in my opinion, as long as the equipment is road worthy.
If you recall the 9600 gondolas came to being in 1997 as rider gondolas. Also another issue that was difficult in “97” was that the rider box cars had to be switched from one end of the train to the other at Osier on the Chama train. This keep them trailing the sleds for the return trip. Also more switching was necessary when the train returned to Chama to be ready for the following day.
This was the year that the wooden snack car was retired from the Chama side.
In those days One of my biggest problems was to have enough equipment to handle the rider ship. In the fall we would have every possible car in a weekend train and the tonnages where sometimes well into triple header ratings and were full of people.
The cost & problem of switching was the biggest factor with combo trains back in the day.
Prier to “97” know one paid much attention to it.
madjack
