Re: Chama Roundhouse

Dave:
I have the June 1973 NMRA bulletin that you asked about but I do not have the October issue that has Maxwells letter. At any rate the June article which has a plan of the roundhouse (not complete) has this to say:
This is by Richard Croll and Eric Bracher:
"The roundhouse originally contained 9 stalls, but was cut down to 4 stalls in 1943, Of these four stalls, only 2 had tracks as the other 2 were used for storage. Also in 1943, the turntable was removed, having been in use since the late 1920's. During its last years it was spiked down and only one stall was used. In 1956, the two trackless stalls were torn down."
Well you can see the problems with that disertation particularly the number of stalls which should be 5 not 4 and the year is wrong also. Of course Doris Osterwald in her book says the stalls were removed in 1936 so go figure. This error is also repeated in an article in the Model Railroader Craftsman August 1983 by Paul Swanson.
Maxwell is refering in his letter to an entry in the "book of Structure Values" that is in the Colorado Railroad Museum library. It has an entry in 1944 that authorizes the removal of the 4 riverside stalls. I am kicking myself because I did not make a copy of that page now when I was there.
IN the C&TS Dispatch, Summer 1999, Kevin Corwin who did a research on the history of the roundhouse states that in December of 1945 the D&RGW authorized the reduction of the roundhouse to 2 stalls, and removal of the turntable. At this time the 4 riverside stalls were removed and the tracks removed from the next 3 stalls. He states that the turntable was also removed and the pit filled in and the present switch and tracks installed. Haucks photo and letter confirm that by November of 1946 these actions had been accomplished. There is a picture of the 5 stall house in May 1955 in one of Norwoods books (Rio Grand Narrow Gauge, Page 178) so we know the other three stalls were removed after that so late 1955 or 1956 make sense. I wish there were positive documents but then there would be not reason for a ngdiscussion I guess.
Now I have a question. Do you know anything about the "Electric light plant" installed in Chama in 1924 for the staggering sum of $205.38, on authorization number 1652? I know the Railroad had electricity before the town but I don't know if it was a steam powered generator or diesel and where it was housed.
The only reason I got into this was that we were trying to update the Yard Tour Brochure and found the inconsistencies.