Mike Trent Wrote:
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> Engine #473 was painted in the new scheme as an
> experiment in 1950, before the San Juan was
> discontinued. It was repainted in black after
> being derailed into the Animas River on the
> Silverton Branch, while clearing the line of stray
> equipment prior to filming of the movie "Denver &
> Rio Grande". That was in 1952, I believe.
>
> Later in 1951, when the Silverton Train was being
> run to accomodate increased tourist and charter
> business, additional coaches were painted in Gold.
> These include #306 and #320, bringing the number
> of Gold coaches to three. Baggage #126 was also
> painted at this time.
> Engine #476 had a fake stack during much of the
> 50's, and also had the old box headlight from
> 473's Bumblebee. In 1958, #478 had a fake stack.
This photo is of the first run, June 18, 1950. Whether those are coaches or other cars, I can't say:
After the end of the season, 473 re-entered the regular pool, working 215/216, freights, and the "stub" Chama-Dulce passenger train after the "San Juan" was terminated. It returned to Silverton service in 1951, and derailed that summer as Mike described.
473 re-entered service in the fall of 1952, as ALCo intended.
476 got dolled up in 1954 for movie work as "7" with what appears to be 473's stack and headlight.
As Mike has pointed out before, at some point this first stack got replaced with a slightly different design. But 476 was "fake-stacked" from '54 until 1980.
JAC