Flying it into TGU over 600 times with not one problem made me a believer in the B757. Doing it in the B727 as I did was marginal.
I presume that you were flying -200s? We only flew the -100s there and we always came out empty, except for the cabin guards, less than 20 folks. So we never had a problem.
I could see where you would be marginal with a max load for conditions in a 200.
Always wanted to fly a 757 and at one time it looked like we would get a long range version of the 757, but had an Administration change* and that idea was killed.
* No ideas from a previous Administration is a good idea for the new Administration in Washington when a different Party takes over. Sometimes even when it is the same party.