The Friends of Locomotive 169

09/30/2022

On September 29, 1922, 100 years ago today locomotive 169 was involved in a head-on crash with D&RG locomotive 411 at milepost 309.2 of the Denver & Rio Grande's Fourth Division. This location is along the route of today's Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Traveling railroad west, locomotive 169 was pulling train No. 115 which consisted of two baggage cars, one combination mail and baggage car, two coaches, and one parlor car. Locomotive 411, running as a light locomotive, was traveling railroad east operating as an extra to Alamosa, Colorado after suffering a broken main rod on the Fireman's side of the locomotive. The Engineer and Fireman of the 411 misread the train orders that the Engineer received at Cumbres Pass earlier that morning believing they had the ability to make it as far as Big Horn before meeting the 115. At approximately 11:10 AM the 411 and the 169 collided, killing Engineer D. M. Wright and Fireman L. J. Knee of the 169. Along with the deaths of Mr. Wright and Mr. Knee, 19 passengers of train No. 115 were injured along with two persons carried under contract and the two Trainmen.

The 411 no longer exists as a locomotive but its throttle survives inside D&RGW locomotive 315. A locomotive pilot and coupler existed down the hill from the wreck site for many years but were retrieved several years ago for installation on locomotive 169. The pilot took considerable straightening and material replacement to be fit for use again. The knowledge of whether the pilot and coupler were originally from 169 or 411 is lost to time.

For a more detailed report of the collision, a link to the website containing the original Interstate Commerce Commission report under file 882 can be found here:

https://planeandtrainwrecks.com/SimpleSearch?db=DOT-RAILROAD&q=Denver%20Rio%20Grande%20September%201922%20169%20411

06/20/2022

On Saturday June 25th the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area and the Alamosa City Historic Preservation will be beginning an annual event to celebrate the founding of Alamosa. The Friends of the 169 will have the gate open to the pavillion during the commemoration and will be on hand to welcome visitors. If you're in the area and looking for something to check out, come by and see the 169 and business car B-1 up close! We hope to see you there!

04/17/2022

Happy Easter Sunday everyone! Its been awhile since our last post so enjoy these historic photos of 169. These photos show 169 the way it appeared after receiving a 18 inch Pyle National headlight and reflect the overall general appearance that has been chosen for the locomotive's restoration.

These photos come from the Richard Dorman collection of the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Historic Photo Collections and can be found at:
https://ngtrainpics.photoshelter.com/index

For anyone interested in donating or finding out more information about the project, please visit our website at:
https://www.friendsof169.com/

03/20/2022

Yesterday a few of our members gathered to perform an inspection on the condition of locomotive 169 and take notes in preparation for 169's future operational restoration. A visual inspection was made on the interior of the barrel of the boiler, the interior of the firebox, and each cylinder bore.

In order to continue creating the best plan of action for the locomotive's operational restoration and what work should be performed, notes were taken on the location of previous weld repairs performed on firebox sheets by the Denver & Rio Grande Western shop forces, ultrasonic thickness measurements were taken and noted in various locations that there were previous concerns over sheet thickness, and the measurements of the internal diameter of the cylinder bores were noted.

We'd like to welcome our newest organization members Austin Goodwin, Dylan Hutson, and Chase Bond. All three members are employees of the historic Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad mechanical and operating teams bringing with them a background that will help ensure 169's path to operation on its former home rails.

Stay tuned this year for more updates regarding Denver & Rio Grande Western T-12 class locomotive 169. If you'd like to donate or learn more about the organization, give us a visit at our website:

https://www.friendsof169.com/

03/06/2022

Now it's easier to send The Friends of Locomotive 169 a message.

Now it's easier to send The Friends of Locomotive 169 a message.

03/03/2022

The Friends of Locomotive 169 updated their business hours.

The Friends of Locomotive 169 updated their business hours.

07/22/2020

Some current pictures of the 169

07/02/2020

Ellen has decorated the locomotive and B-1 for the 4th of July.
THANK YOU ELLEN

04/02/2020

two pictures of the cab of the 168, taken last summer in Antonito Colorado.

03/13/2020

Rotary OY Sunday 3-1-20 below windy point

Ben also has a video on youtube
https://youtu.be/k7Ms-ef2YpM

Here is some limited and rare footage of Rotary OY that was taken well away from the last road crossing before you reach Cumbres Pass. It was just before the...

03/13/2020

Ben Mabry gave me permission to post these pictures of the rotary in action on the CTSRR. THANK YOU BEN!

01/05/2020

These pictures are looking up from underneath the locomotive.

12/06/2019

A photo from the night shoot from several years ago. Still had the old box headlight.

11/19/2019

replacing the headlight

11/19/2019

number and boiler plates

11/19/2019

Christmas 2018

09/03/2013

Welcome to Adam Pinales and Pete Maxfield!

Contact us if you'd like to get involved; we've got a lot of work to do and every volunteer helps!

07/20/2013

Volunteer Week #3:

This week we continued lettering the locomotive and tender, measured the steam cylinder bores (with help from J.R. from Van's machine shop!), removed the left-hand and right-hand side rods, and performed other mechanical work.

We definitely had visitors, and we all took time to explain what we were doing, answer questions, and recruit future members to the Friends of the 169.

We’ll be open for the Early Iron Festival on Labor Day Weekend and for Holiday Lights, and Volunteer Days are still the first Saturday of the month.

See you at the pavilion!!

07/15/2013

A reminder that today starts Volunteer Week #3!

We'll be at the Cole Park pavilion 8:00am - 4:00pm, and hope to see you there!

07/07/2013

Volunteer Week #2; Fourth of July Preparations

05/20/2013

2013 Volunteer Week #1

05/20/2013

We had a very good week during Volunteer Week #1.

The sander pipes were removed, paint was cleaned from both main rods, and deburring started on the stencils. The three remaining front truck cellars were removed and the journals look very, very good.

A lot of the Stephenson valve gear was removed - two support links and all four eccentric arms were marked, removed, photographed, and reassembled outside the locomotive.

We have a Volunteer Day scheduled for Saturday, June 1st, and our next Volunteer Week is June 10-14.

Hope to see you there!

05/12/2013

Volunteer Day - May 4, 2013

05/11/2013

It was another good Volunteer Day on the 169.

With Lee Conner, Ellen Dodds, Rod Holloway, Dustin Southway, and Jim Poston, we unloaded the main rods, considered options for lighting the headlight, opened the inspection pit, displayed the locomotive's brake rigging outside the tender, and took pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

Remember - out first Volunteer Week for 2013 begins this Monday, May 13, and all Friends and future Friends are invited to attend.

05/11/2013

Volunteer Day - May 4, 2013

04/18/2013

We had another good Volunteer Day on Saturday, April 6, 2013.

Four of us were on site and got a lot of work done -- see the photos for what we were up to!

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for our Volunteer Weeks! Starting May 13th, we'll be working on the locomotive, tender, and Business Car 'B-1'.

04/18/2013

Photos of our 2013 Volunteer Days on the first Saturday of each month.

04/05/2013

New event: Volunteer Day at the Cole Park Pavilion, Alamosa, CO. We start at 10am, but it's OK if you get there a little earlier. We'll be taking a look at brake parts, continuing preparations for our 2013 Volunteer Weeks (the Weeks start May 13, 2013), and taking measurements for this year's Holiday Lights.

03/21/2013

We are back for 2013 and beyond, and we have some pretty good events coming up - including 'hands-on' work for the summer.

As usual, we have our Volunteer Days on the first Saturday of each month - April's taking place on the 6th starting at 10AM.

For the summer, our Volunteer Weeks are May 10-17, June 10-14, and July 15-19. These run Monday through Friday, and we'll still have our Volunteer Days at the beginning of each month.

(Remember, you must be a member of the Friends of the 169 to participate in our Volunteer events, but it's really easy to join!)

11/27/2012

We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome to our newest Facebook friend, Matthew Gustafson, and we look to add many more.

With 2012 winding down, our last Volunteer Day will be Saturday, December 1, at the Cole Park Pavilion. The holiday lights have been installed on the train, so we'll step lightly as we take care of our end-of-the-year projects.

Pictures to follow, and be sure to visit us at www.friendsof169.com.

10/30/2012

Welcome to the newest members of our page. We appreciate your interest in the 169 project and hope to see you at the Cole Park pavilion very soon.

~~~~~~~~

A new month starts this Thursday, which means our next Volunteer Day is Saturday, November 3rd at 10:00am. We plan on reinstalling the engineer's side handrail, removing more of the front truck grease cellars, buttoning up for the winter, and, of course, continuing the 'nickel tours' for all our visitors.

The Saturday forecast is highs in the mid-50's, but since the pavilion can be pretty chilly, please dress warmly!

09/26/2012

The Friends of Locomotive 169 has a new website at www.friendsof169.com.

The site is undergoing re-construction (updates, counter, etc.), but you'll find most of the earlier content at our new location.

In other news:

-the Board elected on September 14, 2012 is:

President - Chuck Proudfoot
Vice-President - Jack Damrath
Treasurer - Lee Conner
Secretary - Jim Poston
Board Member - Melody Johnson

-the next Volunteer Day is Saturday, October 6th at the Pavilion.