Steam & Excursion > At Rest Inside The Roundhouse As Time Draws Near To The End!

The year is 1968 and the narrow gauge line from Alamosa to Durango has only a few weeks left before it will be severed for all time.  Time is running out for this last bastion of steam in Colorado.

We are inside the roundhouse in Alamosa where we find D&RGW #483 and #493 resting side-by-side in the early morning light.  In just a couple days #483 will lead K-28 #473 on the final westbound train to Chama.  #473 will continue on to Durango but #483 will return with a caboose hop to to Alamosa.  The date for that trip will be December 5, 1968.

For now, inside the Alamosa roundhouse, steam is at rest as they await the last winter that the narrow gauge is still intact.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/15 04:10 by LoggerHogger.

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Martin:

Nice photo of the two locos and the interior of the roundhouse. I see the 473, perhaps because she is heading over the top for Chama, is sporting her pilot plow. With December 5 as the date, it is probably a good bet there was some snow up at Cumbres and the plow would come in handy.

Thanks,

John

To me, this looks a wee bit earlier than December 1968, more like August.  483 still has a white smokebox, not the movie paint she had on the last D&RGW run.  In August, she pulled the last revenue freight to Durango, painted in the proper Rio Grande paint scheme. After that, she put on "makeup" for "The Good Guys and Bad Guys", paint she wore into the early Cumbres & Toltec days. So I'm voting to August. Also, in early December 483 had a plow also.  Thanks for posting this wonderful photo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/15 10:53 by DRGW483.

So sad that the Alamosa complex didn't survive to today, but we are thankful for what did survive.

By the way, weren't some of the doors saved and re-used when the Colorado Railroad Musuem built their new roundhouse in Golden?

thanks for the great shot, and all the great shots,

Dan in Wichita
life member, CRRM