Snaking through the rolling hills. As they run westbound through the S-curve near MP 303.4, about 2.5 rail miles east of Sublette, NM, our Rio Grande Southern freight extra, featuring RGS #20 and RGS #455 is snaking its way through rolling hills that are just beginning to look a little more like the southwest Colorado territory where they ran back in the day. If it looks like the 455 is working harder than the 20 in this photo, that's probably a good assumption. With a tractive effort of about 18,600 lbs., the little 10-Wheeler #20 would not be handle this 14-car freight on her own, even on the relatively modest grades that are seen on this eastern portion of today's Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. The beefier K-27 #455 behind her has 27,000 lbs. of tractive effort and is likely handling more than her share of the load. This is why doubleheaders and even tripleheaders were quite common early in the 20th century, as individual locomotives were just not powerful enough to handle anything more than short freights.
Interestingly, after this August, 2021 Trains Magazine Charter made its turn at Osier and headed back to Antonito, the 455 (actually 463 lettered as 455) was sent ahead light, as the railroad does not typically allow doubleheading downgrade. When our train, headed only by RGS 20, stopped during the return for a photo run-by, she was unable, after numerous attempts, to back this train up on her own.
