02-17-15 Steam Behind Shop

[Larry Sullivan]

Reviewing video from this morning, noted a large amount of steam behind the shop. Starting at about 8:50 local time, steam was present for roughly 1 1/2 hours -- video is about 6 minutes long at the start of the event. Never seemed to be controlled like coming out of the stack of a locomotive, no clue what was going on.

[Edwin Frey]

My SWAG about what was going on.... Based on the posts by both Larry's, I'm thinking that on the 17th, something was getting a thorough steam cleaning, with not only the steam visible, but also a haze of blue smoke similar to that seen when #15 is fired up. The guys carrying the sandbags into the engine house may be in preparation to do some sandblasting. So my guess is that #15 is getting repainted. Can't think of anything else that might be getting that kind of attention, since #463 looked to be in pristine condition for the Carhartt shoot and the other three tenders are still sitting where they have been since the end of last season. Time will tell if my crystal ball works....

[Rich Murray]

I'd vote for diesel smoke rather than steam.

[Larry Sullivan]

I'd vote for diesel smoke rather than steam.

Only reason I'd disagree Rich is there was no sound. Easy to hear #15 even when out in back of the shop. Have to go with Edwin's guess on this one for now. Perhaps someone could be in the area sometime and let us know what's happening.

There was smoke today (the 19th) as well, but clearly could hear #15 running.

[Edwin Frey]

Well, so much for my SWAG. Roger Hogan did a drive-through with his hood-mounted video camera yesterday and paused behind the engine house long enough to show #15 in its familiar attire behind stall #1, and the tender for #463 on the track behind stall #2. Perhaps what we saw earlier was some cleanup of parts of #487's running gear. Roger's video can be found on the NGDF as "CTSRR - Chama Yard Tour".

[Jonathan Cordova]

i like both