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Phil and I returned from the narrow gauge convention late Friday night after being stopped by a mud slide near Redstone, CO - we had to wait about 1 1/2 hrs for CDOT to arrive and clear the mud and boulders from the road. Lots of vendors at the convention, mostly Sn3, On30 and G gauge - not a lot of Hon3, but did see the Blackstone K-27s by Soundtrax - absolutely spectacular!!!!!!! |
| Here is a shot by Nathan Holmes of K-28 #473 in Bumble Bee colors - I'm not sure I like it, especially the headlight and yellow doghouse. |  |
| Mudslide at Redstone! Here is the CDOT truck clearing the mud slide. One of the boulders got caught under the plow and severed the hydraulic lines. Luckily one small lane was clear and everyone took turns getting through the mess. |  |  |
 | Need a Drink of Water? |  |
| Can you explain the use of disc brakes on these trucks? |  |
Those wheelsets are from passenger car trucks. Starting in about 1954, the UP's new cars came equipped with disc brakes. In 1959, UP began to replace older clasp type brake trucks with disc brake trucks. Passenger train operation is a little different than freight trains. A passenger train would approach the station at a higher speed and maintain that speed for a longer time, then they'd apply a lot of braking to stop. They had to do this to maintain schedule. They also accelerated out of the station quickly, that's why those lightweight trains had 10,000HP on the front end. The disc brakes allowed quicker stops. The disc brake trucks also had wheel speed monitors on each axle which modulated the brakes to allow them to apply maximum braking without locking up a wheel. Yes, they essentially had anti-lock brakes. Steve |
| "Sweathog" and "Cow Patty" |  | Even the maintenance equipment on the SL&RG RR have names. |
| More "Goosing Around" |  | Replica of Goose No.1 at Ridgway |
Here is Nathan Holmes' Trip Report. Click on: and mouse around to see 5 pages of spectacular photos w/comments on #473 and Goose #5.
