Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec - FriendsOfCumbresToltec.org

Morning preparations:

Departure of train 216: 487 and 8 cars

Sharon & Friends & Guests. It would be interesting to find out why the train stopped at the water tower and about a dozen people got off from one of the front cars, and walked back to the depot.Certainly an unusual event to occur in the usually predictable morning fare.
Also I find that projecting the webcams onto my 84" home theater makes it even more like actually being in the Chama yards.I would still rather be in Chama.

Frank, after reviewing the video, no one got off. All those people you were talking about were standing next to the speeder shed as the train approached. As to why it stopped, no telling. 487 has a tendency for the engineer side rear cylinder cock sticking open and I did notice that as it passed. If its bad enough, the fireman will go out and try to manually close it.

Should note that the 463 is now hot so maybe a double header tomorrow.

I think you're right Sharon..........the starboard side [engineer's side] cylinder cock was still exhausting as they passed the tipple and when they stopped....didn't see anyone leave the cab though to do a manual close?
Ed

I saw someone exit the first coach and the side of the 487 was in shadow so had a hard time seeing if Tracy go off or not, he always wears black.

Arrival of train 215: 489 and 8 cars

Thank you for clearing up my confusion about the large number of Fans coming back from the speeder shed Sharon. In my 50 rides this year and 91 the last two years I have never seen more than a few that far up in the yard unless there was a Work Session.

I was surprised at how many people were standing up around those speeder sheds waiting for the train to pass. Almost every time I go up to the end of north yard to shoot a scene I am alone or maybe one other person is around. That is besides Julian.

Sharon Evans wrote:Frank, after reviewing the video, no one got off. All those people you were talking about were standing next to the speeder shed as the train approached. As to why it stopped, no telling. 487 has a tendency for the engineer side rear cylinder cock sticking open and I did notice that as it passed. If its bad enough, the fireman will go out and try to manually close it.

Should note that the 463 is now hot so maybe a double header tomorrow.

It appeared the cylinder cock was wide open as the engine passed the tipple. There was an initial stop and when the train restarted the steam plume was greatly reduced. After the second restart, there was no steam plume. When the cylinder cock sticks open, you try to free up the linkage that close the valve. The purpose of the cylinder cock is to allow condensed steam (water) out of the cylinder so that you don't blow out the cylinder head. Once the cylinder is heated up, you have minimal condensation so you can close the cylinder cocks without a problem.