Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec - FriendsOfCumbresToltec.org

Morning preparations:





Looking at the shot of it backing down, the 488's coal bunker is full so did not need coal this morning. It is backing onto the train.

Departure of train 216: 488 and 7 cars

Good morning Sharon & Friends & guests. We have a tender on the ground over at Antonio. They parked at the ash pit and the engine rolled back. Fortunately we had another tender so all is well.
I was born in a section house in Ancho NM on the old SP. I was raised in 6 different section houses. My maternal grandfather was a car inspector, and my paternal grandfather was a boilermaker at the El Paso shops. My Aunt Marge was Depot Operator. I worked on the signal gang for four summers after I graduated High School. In the 40s & 50s when I was growing up They ran all steam, so steam trains are in my blood. Even as a child I wondered what it would be like to ride the train every day. Here 70 years later I am finding out.
Gotta go. Gotta train to ride

That is going to look interesting this afternoon with 484's tender, if that is the one they use since when I saw it in late July it was facing the wrong way, coming over on 487. Thanks for the nice "who I am" piece Frank, no wonder you love this so much.

Arrival of train 215: 487-4 and 7 cars ( they are using 484's tender). Seems they swapped out 2 of the coaches.

We all got off at second crossing. Brakes again. They are bringing the train on down. I hope they make it before dark . 487 front marking & 484rear does look funny to us rail fans, but I hope we can see them from the cam angles.

We had two Amtrak engineers riding today, so that's at least 2 riders that are used to being late.

Frank Smith wrote:We all got off at second crossing. Brakes again. They are bringing the train on down. I hope they make it before dark . 487 front marking & 484rear does look funny to us rail fans, but I hope we can see them from the cam angles.

I saw a bus headed east about 4:30 I believe and wondered if they were going to bustute again.

Frank , Jason Rose was looking for information for a book he was writing about the duties of a car inspector at Cumbers. You might contact him, I'm sure he would appreciate any information you may have on the subject. Steve R.

Indeed, I would be very interested in the duties of a Car Inspector, as well as details on what life was like along the railroad. The time period I'm writing about is 1900 and the location is, of course, Cumbres Pass. But info from any era and location is appreciated.