Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec - FriendsOfCumbresToltec.org

There seems to be a nice wind blowing as the morning quiet continues for another 30 minutes or so. I notice that the house lead switch is currently set to the west lead, also don't see the speeder used for fire patrol while the water trailer seems to be sitting in front of the east round house door. Today is another Cinder Bear experience but no 4th coach staged as of now.

I don't know where the speeder is, but that water tank trailer was brought in yesterday by the red pick-up truck and placed in front of the East roundhouse door.

Also the red tank was moved from the tipple track over to in front of #15, I can't tell if it's still there this morning. I probably should put these into yesterday's thread, but will leave here for now. Also I did not see the speeder return yesterday, however there are a couple short periods of time I wasn't recording that they could have returned.

Its hard to see in the shadow, but that red tank is still in front of 15. Did you also see the crew that was doing some welding on the platform of one of the coaches sitting on south yard 1? It was an interesting watch since before they actually started to do the work, a crew member with a pig tail, I have seen him before around the yard, was passing out what looked like lunch to the rest of the crew.

Sharon Evans wrote:Its hard to see in the shadow, but that red tank is still in front of 15.

You got good eyes!!! I wasn't sure.

In watching Roger's latest drone video of Old Town Chama, it looks like the 488 is back inside the house. Hopefully they have started working on the 1472 again.

Morning preparations for train 216: It is still hard to discern details on the plows, but I think that is 489 building steam.


In a repeat of yesterday morning, 487 has come out behind the day's locomotive. Also they are getting the speeder which was parked on the coal tower lead ready to take the fire patrol.

And as to our speeder issue above, we have the answer thanks to Roger -- fortunately it seems no one was badly injured.
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The gentleman in the last shot is the one I was speaking about above with the pig tail.

Sharon Evans wrote:The gentleman in the last shot is the one I was speaking about above with the pig tail.

To answer your question, I didn't catch the welding, I assume that was seen on the depot cam and I typically don't record that cam all day.

Larry Sullivan wrote:

Sharon Evans wrote:The gentleman in the last shot is the one I was speaking about above with the pig tail.

To answer your question, I didn't catch the welding, I assume that was seen on the depot cam and I typically don't record that cam all day.

Correct as to the depot cam.

Departure of train 216: Locomotive 489 with 7 cars
As they moved 216 forward, I watched one of life's little optical illusions. A crew member was walking toward the rear of the train through the open gon and their walking speed exactly matched the trains forward speed. Looks as it the train is moving under the person and they are standing still.


The 489 is past the coaling tower as the engineer signals the running brake test.

While the activity for train 216 goes on, things are happening in the yard.

A little pm action before 215 comes into Chama: It seems that they have gotten the water trailer back running after the accident yesterday at 2d crossing.

Arrival of train 215:
There are cars parked in the lot at Cumbres on the 3:02 pm grab though I don't see a train.

As train 215 passes the coaling tower we see a lot of people still enjoying the open gon.

Sharon Evans wrote:Arrival of train 215:
There are cars parked in the lot at Cumbres on the 3:02 pm grab though I don't see a train.

Looks like a track speeder in this capture.

Here's today's videos --

Train 216 Departure, 487 is making a lot of noise close to the tipple, so hard to hear as the train leaves.



Seems there was a bit of a swirl in the winds here, looks like it picked up a tarp that was perhaps covering some of the Friends materials near the small spreader. Didn't last long, but sure seems like swirling air - start of a dust devil perhaps, if in more open area.



Around 9am 487 moved 463 to the ash pit. They sat there for almost 3 hours as the move back to the shop was just before noon. Note the worker that picks up the tarp, on the way back to shop, and replaces it over the supplies, much appreciated I'm sure by the Friends.



Train 215 Arrival right on time, lots of folks enjoying the day in the open gondola.

After turning 215 at the wye, 484 does some switching in the South yard -- looks like continuing to setup another passenger train - perhaps for one of the extras this weekend, and maybe starting to setup a consist for the school train. Video is just a bit of the switching that lasted over an hour, mostly out of sight.



We'll wind up the day with a quiet look at the yard, as several of the mule deer wander around.