Steam & Excursion > Will The Real Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Please Stand Up?

Not to disrespect the narrow gauge operations that survive today which have done a fantastic job in recreating the halcyon days of Colorado and New Mexico - but - here's the "real" thing:

On June 3, 1962, DRGW 484 steams in Chama NM, illustrating just how dirty, sooty and grimy working steam could be. (Photo by Jim Wren, Rattenne Collection, © KPR Media Services, all rights reserved)

Also on June 3, 1962 No. 492 was captured at Cumbres in a portrait of narrow gauge railroading at its finest (Photo by Jim Wren, Rattenne Collection, © KPR Media Services, all rights reserved)

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A fine pair of images however I'm impressed with how much of this remains, a very rare place these days.
Maybe someone will sponsor a "weathered" freight photo special: volunteers could dab gray paint on the wood to simulate flaking box car red and then spray the trains with a water solution of a black/gray powder mix. (And wash it all off at the end of the trip?)

Well....

If you putter around the Chama yard today, you'll find you don't have to worry about weathered equipment. There's lots of it.

Something to remember about film emulsions in the 60's. They tended to "block up" in the shadows and dark spots, and Kodachrome tends to be on the blue side. So boxcar red doesn't render the way it does on today's digital cameras. And "weathered" looks dirtier in the shadows.

There's also a tremendous amount of grime/oil/dumping that kept yards.... Weed free? Certainly with more black gunk. Far less prevalent today.

I'd contend that things are roughly on the same balance today over Cumbres. OK, maybe the wash the locomotives more frequently.

SRK

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> A fine pair of images however I'm impressed with
> how much of this remains, a very rare place these
> days.
> Maybe someone will sponsor a "weathered" freight
> photo special: volunteers could dab gray paint on
> the wood to simulate flaking box car red and then
> spray the trains with a water solution of a
> black/gray powder mix. (And wash it all off at
> the end of the trip?)

Steve Krause
Chillicothe, IL

SR_Krause Wrote:
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Actually Kodachrome tends to be more red, not blue. Ektachrome leans into the blues. Kodachrome (up until the late 1990s) was yielded the truest color over any other film. While I have no firm sales figures for Kodachrome, my experience was out of 20 fans collected together, if you asked who was actively using Ektachrome (meaning it was their film of choice) maybe 1 guy would raise his hand :-) For some folks, the advantage of Ektachrome was you could develop it yourself - Kodachrome needed to be sent to a processing center.

These are both Kodachrome slides.

> Well....
>
> If you putter around the Chama yard today, you'll
> find you don't have to worry about weathered
> equipment. There's lots of it.
>
> Something to remember about film emulsions in the
> 60's. They tended to "block up" in the shadows and
> dark spots, and Kodachrome tends to be on the blue
> side. So boxcar red doesn't render the way it does
> on today's digital cameras. And "weathered" looks
> dirtier in the shadows.
>
> There's also a tremendous amount of
> grime/oil/dumping that kept yards.... Weed free?
> Certainly with more black gunk. Far less prevalent
> today.
>
> I'd contend that things are roughly on the same
> balance today over Cumbres. OK, maybe the wash the
> locomotives more frequently.
>
> SRK
>
> railstiesballast Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > A fine pair of images however I'm impressed
> with
> > how much of this remains, a very rare place
> these
> > days.
> > Maybe someone will sponsor a "weathered"
> freight
> > photo special: volunteers could dab gray paint
> on
> > the wood to simulate flaking box car red and
> then
> > spray the trains with a water solution of a
> > black/gray powder mix. (And wash it all off at
> > the end of the trip?)

railstiesballast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A fine pair of images however I'm impressed with
> how much of this remains, a very rare place these
> days.
> Maybe someone will sponsor a "weathered" freight
> photo special: volunteers could dab gray paint on
> the wood to simulate flaking box car red and then
> spray the trains with a water solution of a
> black/gray powder mix. (And wash it all off at
> the end of the trip?)

Probably could be weathered some how just for one trip, are you a volunteer there? Am sure they have plenty of work if you are not.

You could use chalks. I think painting over a new paint job would not be a good use of money.

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO