Old Train Thursday, Narrow Gauge.

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1)

1962, Rio Grande 2-8-2 #483(K-36) Crosses the Lobato Trestle in New Mexico with Gramps Tank Cars.

2)

1952 Rio Grande Southern 2-8-0 #42(C-17) Alamosa, Colorado

3)

1944 Rio Grande Steam Derrick “Op”.

4)

1968 Rio Grande 2-8-2 #498(K-37) East of Durango, Colorado on the San Juan Extension.

5)

1958 Rio Grande 2-8-2 #483(K-36) over Cumbre Pass in Alamosa, Colorado.

6)

1960 Rio Grande 2-8-2 #491(K-37) takes on water in Alamosa, Colorado.

7)

Rio Grande Southern 2-8-2 #461 and #452 at the Roundhouse shop in Ridgeway, Colorado.

8)

1968 Rio Grande 2-8-0 #74, Excursion Train at Vance Junction, Colorado.

9)

1949 Rio Grande “Galloping Goose” #4 at Placerville, Colorado.

10)

1951 Rio Grande Southern Business Car “Edna” (B-20) with gondolas and two cabooses at a layover by the water tank in Telluride, Colorado.

11)

1999 Eureka & Palisades Railroad 4-4-0 #4 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in July 1875. Photo taken on the Durango & Silverton Railway track.

12)

1949 Eureka & Palisades Railroad Parlor and Observation car.









13)

1955 East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR2-8-0 #207, built in 1904.

14)

15)

1971 East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company 2-8-2 #14 at Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania.

16)

1971 East Broad Top 2-8-2 #17 at Orbisonia, Pennsylvania.



17)

1971 East Broad Top’s Roundhouse at Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania with tenders.

18)

Uintab Railways 2-6-6-2T Mallet Mogul #50, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1926.

19)

1965 White Pass & Yukon RR RSD39 at Bennett, British Columbia.



20)

1973 White Pass & Yukon RR 90-Class “Shovelnose” #99 at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

21)

1961 Elk River Coal & Lumber Company, three truck, 65 ton Shay #19, built in 1905 fords Lilly Fork Creek in Clay County, West Virginia.

22)

1964 Klickitat Logging & Lumber Company three truck Shay #7 dumps logs in the mill pond at Klickitat, Washington.















1971 East Broad Top RR Station Depot, Rock Hill, Pennsylvania.

That’s A New One

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We just got home from taking The Wifely Unit’s hoopty up to Les Schwab Tire Shop to have a brake inspection done and to get a leaky tire fixed.

The tire had a nail in it and since it has their tires on it, they fixed that for free.

The brake inspection turned into a clusterfuck.

I did the rear brakes on this thing several years ago and she has complained about it squeaking ever since.

My bad, I cheaped out and didn’t replace all the hardware kits and springs.

Anyway, about a week ago they started grinding from the left rear.

After forty plus years of this shit and since now I am all fucked up in the legs with all the clogged arteries, I told her I wasn’t doing it again, hence the trip to Schwabbies.

So after waiting an hour and a half and about ten minutes before they close, this young guy calls me up to discuss the issue.

First off he tells me they couldn’t get the rear drums off and that we need to make an appointment so they can employ someone there who can.

No surprise there, I’m sure as worn out as those brake shoes are and after 250,000+ miles, there is probably a hell of a lip inside those drums and they are probably going to have to use a great big puller on them.

That of course, will completely destroy everything inside.

Par for the course and no real surprise there.

The surprise I did get was when he told me that he couldn’t take the left front wheel off to check the brakes because the inside of the tire was bald.

“”Scuse me?”

Like I said, I’ve been turning wrenches for over forty years now, including two stints at tire shops plus ten years at a dealership.

Needless to say, I have literally pulled off THOUSANDS of tires and wheels and AT NO TIME EVER, did the condition of the tire ever stop me from taking the wheel off.

I’m thinking the fact that it was close to quitting time had more to do with it than anything else.

But still, that was a new one on me.

Can you smell the bullshit?

I can.

So between two new tires, a front end alignment, ( IF, they don’t find something else worn out) and a complete rear brake job, I told The Wife to expect to be paying $1200 AT A MINIMUM.

This on a twenty year old POS with 250,000+ miles on it.

She dumped almost $3,000 into it last year having the timing belt, water pump and valve cover gasket done on it.

The thing is, this damn thing just won’t die and she loves the stupid thing.

This is also the same woman who constantly gives me a massive ration of shit about a certain British car sitting out in the drive way that I have had for over 35 years, that according to her, needs to be sold yesterday.

God forbid I should try to draw any similarities though.