65th Anniversary of the last San Juans

January 31st and February 1st mark the 65th anniversary of the last runs of the San Juan passenger train between Alamosa and Durango. I have a very yellowed photocopy (made in the late 1960's) of the Denver Post story, complete with photos, of the last runs. After a dry early winter, harsh winter weather hit for the last runs. Heavy snow and record cold marked the last runs. On February 1st, new low temperature records were set over much of the Colorado and northern New Mexico mountains. Colorado's all time lowest recorded official temperature of -60° F. was set at Taylor Park Reservoir northeast of Gunnison on February 1st, a record that was not broken until, interestingly enough, February 1, 1985 at Maybell in far northwestern Colorado with a low temperature of -61° F. (In 1951, trains were still running into Gunnison and up to Crested Butte--winter operations in that kind of cold temperatures must have surely been "interesting.") I personally experienced temperatures below -50° F. (unofficial, but recorded on an accurate thermometer) ambient temperature in Gunnison in the early 1970's. That kind of cold can not really be explained to anyone who hasn't experienced it. Gavilan, New Mexico, northwest of Santa Fe, hit -50° F. on February 1, 1951, making New Mexico the southernmost US state to record a low temperature of -50° F. or lower.

A little less than a year later, a large and poorly predicted snowstorm on Cumbres Pass, combined with the lack of a daily passenger train to plow off any snow accumulations, led to the worst later years snow blockade on Cumbres Pass, beginning on December 31, 1951 and lasting until January 12, 1952. Snow troubles continued after that, both on Cumbres Pass and on the line from Durango to Silverton.

So, a lot of interesting narrow gauge history from 65 years ago.

NOTE: All temperatures recited herein are ambient temperatures, without wind chill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2016 07:29PM by Wade Hall.