Re: A hill shot

Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder. As in the best of marriages we mostly feel that the ones we have or know the best are the most beautiful. I personally feel that the 70 class mikes of the WP&YR have very appealing "high stepping" lines, and they look fabulous on the front of a string of coaches. The D&RGW K-36s and K-37s have that look of raw mountain climbing power. Give me the hill and the loads "Ill take em and get em to the other side". The K-27s which I first saw on the RGS as a small child always struck me as heroic in a battle against impossible odds. By the way I thought RGS 20 was the "little engine that could". Such is the mind of a small child.
In 1994 on our first trip up to Cumbres after restoring 463 we stopped at Cresco to inspect the running gear. Some railfan asked me what I thought of it. I said "well I guess it will have to be my favorite locomotive for a while". I guess it still is.
I find I love these locomotives and find them beautiful based on the memories they evoke. One of my favorites was standing among 4 hot engines with banked fires at the north end of the Chama enginehouse at 2:00am. The message they projected was "I did a days work today, I'll do a days work tomarrow."