Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec - FriendsOfCumbresToltec.org

Looks like another great sunny day in Chama, as our locomotives quietly await being put to use. Work session D starts today, so we'll see lots of folks in the yard again as well.

I'm not sure about "quietly" - whichever # locomotive is on the east lead has had it's safety valve lifting continuously (ten minutes or so thus far)

Mike Maguire wrote:I'm not sure about "quietly" - whichever # locomotive is on the east lead has had it's safety valve lifting continuously (ten minutes or so thus far)

They were sitting nice and quiet when I was watching earlier -- I must have woke one up!!! Probably 487 as she seems to pop that valve most of any of them.

If 487 is in the yard you can tell quickly where she is by her sensitive pop valve. Another point to ponder as the day progresses: will 463 come back to Chama this afternoon or will there be another locomotive switch at Osier.
Thing is Mike, that is 484 you caught letting go.
Is it just me or others also, I think that the spreader is a thing of beauty with its wings deployed.

Morning preparations:

During this lull in the normal activities the Friends have been using one of the front loaders with fork attachments to do things.

Departure of train 216:



As the 484 is passing the coaling tower, the engineer blows a 'long' to alert the conductor for the running brake test.

I had noted over the weekend that there was a problem with the batten boards on the coal dock. Today they have moved the supports on the track side of the boards further apart to better support the ends. The new supports are actually in alignment with the supports on the inside. Also they were using the bucket on the loader as a hammer to drive the new supports in.

I guess with the rains that Chama and area had over the weekend, there was not need for the fire patrol to follow 215 back from Osier so he is back over an hour ahead of the train.

Just caught a large dump truck adding more ballast to the piles at Cumbres. Wonder if we will have anywhere to park up there?

Arrival of train 215: We had a locomotive swap at Osier again today.

We can see a number of riders in the open gon as 215 passes the coaling tower.

Sharon Evans wrote:Just caught a large dump truck adding more ballast to the piles at Cumbres. Wonder if we will have anywhere to park up there?

6.27.16 More ballast at Cumbres.jpg

Parking is becoming limited and our crew leader had to remind the drivers that we needed access to the section house. The white truck belongs to our team leader and we need it close because it has the generator for the power tools we are using. In this picture it is about 100 feet from the back door of the house (unfortunately we are working on/in the front of the house).

You would think that the railroad/contractors would at least leave an access road over to the section house for you guys to get in there to work.

Here's today's videos -

Starting with 216 Departure



As Sharon noted above, some work was done on the coal dock today - here's some of it. Loader picked up some lumber (I thought a tie, but looked longer than a tie), headed for the coal dock and the repairs were done using the loader as a pile driver. Note the bee/wasp that tried to get a closeup selfie about 1:40 into video.



215 returns, only North cam on this one - South cam dropped out on me for a couple minutes at the wrong time.



Working on getting a few more highlights from the Friends work of the day, may have that up tonight or in the morning.

Great coverage today! Thank-you!! Catching up tonight.

Sharon Evans wrote:You would think that the railroad/contractors would at least leave an access road over to the section house for you guys to get in there to work.

I think the issue is that the railroad asked the rockhaulers to put the rock closer to the track, there is a lot of rock to be delivered and there is no equipment present to consolidate the dumped piles and make them taller (each pile is about 4 ft high).

Couple more little videos of the yard activity. I know it's most likely just another day at the office for the operator of that fork lift/backhoe machine, but somehow just fascinates me seeing how easily they maneuver around with those 32 foot long boards. Video is sped up a bit to shorten the time, they don't quite move this fast!



Interesting little sequence to show just how much traffic is moving around that yard at times. 484 all coaled and ready, waits at the coal dock for the loader to bring something over to the guys working on the spreader. Then as he starts backing, a couple people carry a large piece of plywood? out of the wood shop, once 484 starts to move the loader goes back across the tracks, 484 makes it past and another large piece of plywood crosses the tracks. Really have to be aware of your surroundings and what's happening that's for sure!