In Antonito their is the railroad car Shop that the states Built and there is a two stall car shop that the Friends built
In Chama there is the engine shop with the machine shop and 2 round house stalls
And the friends have purchased property for another car shop facility at the end of the wye. This adds up to 4 shop buildings, all but 1 of the buildings are car shops
There are plans to get back to 5 or 6 engines so that the railroad can finally surpass the high water mark of the 1990,s The current shop is inadequate to support 5 or 6 locomotives in a cost effective way. 2 of the locomotives will have to be stored in Antonito and maintained there. And still 4 locos will be in the current shop and there tenders will be outside or in the roundhouse stalls.
This adds a factor of 10 to any machine work done to the locomotive in Antonito.
Also requires a lot of snow digging to rearrange the engines for repair thru the winter in Chama.
Note, the solar heat units of the car shop in Antonito don’t heat the engine stalls. The Engine stalls are very cold in the winter. The car shop in Antonito should be used for car repair. The car stalls can be heated at a much reduced cost than the engine stalls.
The engines should all be out of the weather and available in a tolerable environment and in close proximity to the machine shop daily for maintenance in the winter months. When six engines are in the rotation generally the last engine is being shopped thru the summer months. This engine should at the end of the summer be Run to Antonito and be available for any winter or spring affairs. Also this engine would be fresh and require little more than the Inspections to satisfy the FRA.
The area to the north of the engine house next to BACK SIDE of the round house where engines are stored should be covered and it would be appropriate if the front of it matched the front of the round house if a turn table is deemed as absolutely inappropriate, fine leave the tracks as they are. If a table were put in, a lot of short radial tracks could be added and make for a great place to store the Jordan Spreader, the Pile Driver, the Flangers and the water cars.
Originally I wanted to have the friends use the short radial tracks under more round house for their car shops.
I’m confident all this talk is for nothing. I sure that one day the shop will again be killing them selves to keep up with 5 or 6 locomotives and be spending many man hours digging in the snow for the next days equipment movements only to find it all blown back the following morning. They won’t have the flexibility to do the same sort of work on all the engines & tenders simultaneously. They will be hauling parts back & forth from Antonito to Chama for machine work they will be forced to make detailed drawings for work in Antonito They will have to deal with the inconvenience of any second guessing the drawings as the engine is on the other side of the mountains.
There is no plan for the Chama shop.
GB was found guilty and executed
The state of New Mexico paid out the nose for past sins
The remaining operators get off with a free pass as did Colorado
They will continue set up car shops in Antonito, Chama, and Colorado Springs deferring moneys away from the daily miracle.
The Engine shops will be locked up in a little bottle unable grow as the railroad grows for what in my opinion is silly at best.
All will take advantage of the shop and do nothing until the next major Donny Brook comes along.
My crystal ball is a little more direct than jays oracle and requires no drinking
Jack
