Boxcab, they might be in trouble . They are closing some mines on the Cowan Sub.the Brooks Run mines. Curtis
Here are three shots from the book Rio Grande, Mainline of the Rockies by Beebe & Clegg. Richard F. Lind photo. Rio Grande Railroad photo. Circa summer of 1930 Rio Grande Railroad photo. Circa winter of 1930, however the signage has changed somewhat.
Last week, a Union Pacific car inspector came by and approved the kludge job I did to repair the hand brakes on this and another car so that they can be moved from Houston to Austin, Texas. On both cars the ratchet lever mechanism seen here on the left side of the vestibule door was not working. I had to figure out how to take them apart, clean and grease all the gears and other internal parts. The pulley wheels on the chain guides under the cars were also froze up and had to be broken loose. I had to fabricate new leaf springs for the ratchet pawls on the levers that engage the main gear in the mechanisms. I found a stainless steel hose clamp about the right width just lying in the ballast in the yard from which I made two springs, one for each car. They were springy enough and worked real well.
Just because it ain't in the specs, no amount of planning beats Dumb Luck. Hope they have a safe trip.
NP had a 4-6-0 #175. But it was retired in the 1920's and this photo looks much later. Also, what lettering I can see doesn't seem to look quite like NP script?
The tender is definitely NP in script and in style/size. NP tended to have a larger coal box than most due to the low btu coal they used. The engine could be an R class....but where is it? And who used this thing last?
If this is actually NP 175, then perhaps we have a small mystery. NP Class "R" 4-6-0 #175 is shown as being scrapped at Brainard, MN, in 1927.
Oh, wow. The locomotive came through my home town the year after my family moved to Tucson, Arizona. I still remember steam in Antigo a few years prior as the main yard in town was just down the street from our house.
Thanks, Candy. I did see a picture of a C&NW 175 this afternoon. The tender does not look like NP, so maybe somebody just painted it up that way. It does happen, as we have seen many times with other operating steamers these days.
