#74 Gets a Bum Rap in '49

There were two Rocky Mtn RR Club excursions on the RGS with #74, one in '49, one in '51.

The Club organizers of the '49 trip, one of whom was Ed Haley, who told me all about it, requested #74 for the trip, since the Club was from Denver, and was a C&S engine they all remembered from years earlier.

The enginemen were the two most senior on the RGS, and both had a burr up their ass that these railfans requested the 74.

So they made damn sure the trip would be one to remember, "running out of steam" several times along the way, starting in the most bramble infested area on Dallas Divide.

The old timers merely exclaimed that the 74 was a poor steamer, and after about three or four delays, tempers blew. Haley went to the engneer and told him, "If you guys can't keep this engine hot, there are about six men on board this train who can!" That was the end of the problems on the two day trip.

But the damage was done, and 74 has been branded as a "poor steamer" by railfans worldwide, perpetuated by all sorts of individuals who never saw the engine under steam at all.

In reality, #74 was one of the best steaming engines, and one of the easiest to fire on the C&S.

If anyone is interested in more on this story and on firing engines on the C&S as told by some of the men who did, check out the following link:

[www.riograndesouthern.com]

By the way, there was none of this foolishness on the '51 trip, which may well have been the "Best Trip Ever".