This was a very typical kind of westbound train in at least the 1961to 1964 time frame when I was visiting, and probably going back to around 1950 when the oil and gas boom started. After the Oriental Refinery closed in 1964 combined with an overall drop in traffic the trains probably got a bit shorter. The cliche "through the weeds not around them" has become popular, and I think it conveys the impression that the DRGW ng. was a RGS-like streak of rust. But through the early 60's the DRGW ng. was rather serious big time railroading, just on narrow rails and with antiquated equipment. Probably one of the really amazing things about the ng. was that so much of the old wooden underframed equipment survived the heavy trains of those years. And of course some didn't, the remains of broken cars were not uncommon.
JBWX
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2018 12:22PM by John West.