Another sign of the future of narrow gauge railroading in the intermountain west as Cumbres and Toltec #489 departs Antonito on a cloudless August day. The change is almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye, the paint is nearly the same, nor is there any external changes to the locomotive... But the 489 is the Cumbres' first Denver and Rio Grande Western locomotive converted to burn fuel oil, a now necessity on western lines in the face of climate change. One really has to look excessively hard to find the changes other than the lack of a "stack cap". It also doesn't help that easily accessible supplies of local coal can be stopped anytime in the near future, and you can see why 489 is the future of the D&RGW narrow gauge.
