[Attachment(s) from
runextra@gmail.com [CBQ] included below]
I've thought this pic is Echeta? It is a
Barringer but I don't know his photo number.
I'd have to drive the 80 miles out there to
check the hills and see if they match but from
my memory it sure looks close.
As for the steam loco having shoved an
eastbound to Arvada, that is not very likely.
No reason for that. I've ran A LOT of helpers
here and I've never done that. Sheridan
helpers shove east up to Ulm then most trains
go it alone from there to Gillette. In steam
days there was a wye at Ulm and it can still
very faintly be seen today. In diesel days we
usually stayed on the rear of the train we
helped to Ulm down the hill to Clearmont to
obtain train orders to return to Sheridan or
to get on a westbound that needed help up to
Ulm and up the backside of Sheridan Hill. In
diesel days we would often run light helpers
to Lariat to get on the rear of a westbound
there to shove it up out of Arvada and up Ulm
and Sheridan Hills (Arvada siding was gone by
then. ripped out after a wreck on the spring
switch in 1975 or 1976). My point is that
there is no reason for steam engines to help a
train to Arvada which is at the bottom of a
hill in either direction. I don't doubt that
the CBQ ran light helper engines to Arvada to
help westbounds out of there and up the other
2 hills. It DOES make sense that the Q would
run light helpers out of Gillette to Echeta to
meet and help an eastbound up Felix Hill thru
the S curves that were straightened in the
late 1970s. But I don' know if the Q had
westbound helper service based at Gillette?
Sheridan helpers could've also shoved from
Sheridan to Sparta(between Oriva and Gillette)
where there was a wye to turn for the long
return trip.