A lot of folks seem to think of the DRGW from Antonito to Durango as being an RGS-like steak of rust. And that was probably true of some stretches in the last years, and it only got worse on the east end in the early years of the the C&TS. But during the bulk of my visits to the DRGW from 1960 to 1965, I don't remember seeing much really bad track. Yes, a lot of native earth ballast and occasionally weeds, but for the most part surface and line seemed pretty good with relatively few low joints. Which given the size of the trains DRGW was running, probably was necessary for safe operation.

JBWX