Re: Question Regarding Steam Rotaries

After 0Y broke its half axle in 1995 we used 2 locomotives to finish clearing the line east of Los Pinos. It was not completely without incident however.
At one point near the Los Pinos phone booth we stalled double heading down hill in about 30" of snow. After doing some hand digging we ascertained that the drivers and lead truck of the #488 were not on the track but above it. The second engine #488 had run up on the snow left by the lead engine #487. The #488's plow has a large flat plate under the plow. The snow left by the #487 packed under the plow of the #488 which was slightly angled up. As the snow continued to pack under the plow it lifted the front of the locomotive off the rails and caused the spring rigging to disassemble.
We hand dug the snow between the rear wheels of #487's tender and the #488 and backed up. We did this several times until we had #488's drivers back down on the rails and backed up to a point near the road in the Los Pinos meadows. Careful use of the "Port-a-power" jacks allowed us to put the spring rigging back together and we returned to Chama.
As I recall We continued the next day with just the #487. If the #488 had been in the lead or the plow had not been angled slightly up the problem would not have occurred.
When we rebuilt the broken half axle on 0Y we also rebuilt and reinforced the body framing and put on new siding. In the spring of 1996 we painted it gray. It was used in 1997 to open the line.
In the 70's or 80's I believe they opened the line with 2 locomotives and a flanger but as I recall they derailed one of the engines at Windy Point and didn't get it re-railed till the next day. Somewhere I have either a Denver Post or Rocky Mtn News picture of the engines stuck at Windy Point.