Re: Casey Jones Railbus

Bill is correct that the Casey belongs to the San Juan County Historical Society and is on loan to the D&S. It has operated a number of times, as shown in a couple of these postings. I rode it several years back from Durango to a couple of miles above Tacoma when the battery went dead, and that was the first indication that the magneto was not working. Previously, I rode on it for the first official live run when Charlie Bradshaw rode in the front passenger seat, and several of us from the historical society were in the passenger compartment. This was a short run from the tail of the Silverton wye up to the depot. It rides like a rock and is quite noisy, but is great fun none-the-less.

Certain elements of the society in Silverton want the Casey back on display at the Silverton museum--feathers were ruffled when the D&S didn't bother to list the society as owner when it first went on display, and then it was left to languish next to the depot in Silverton. But it gets far better care and attention from the D&S crews than the society ever gave it. I think it would be a disservice to the Casey to put it back on static display.