My dad was a big steam fan who liked all sorts of steam. In 1954 he made a visit to the NG and rode a special from Alamosa-Durango-Silverton. So, in 1956 he took the whole family out there, and we rode a special, chased some freights, and stayed a week at AH! Wilderness Guest Ranch on the Silverton Branch. I was 5, my brother nearly 2. He got off the baby bottle on that trip as he heaved it into the Animas River one day. I went with my dad in 1961 and 1969, and in 61 we drove back to Osier to see a freight with 494 and 495. We also made trips out there as a family in 1966 and 1968, and have been going back periodically over the years since then.
For me the fascination is that fact that these routes were so fabulously scenic, remote, and timeless. This was REAL steam operating for a class one, and it was defying the times by lasting into the late 60's when everything else was essentially dieselized. A lot of that charm is still there to witness with the two tourist railroads, esssentially operating the same engines over the same trackage that we rode nearly 60 years ago for the first time. Sure the Durango to Chama line is now gone, and so are all the other old portions of the D&RGW NG but the lore lives on, as do the historic photos of these lines that seemed in another world when you would visit. Sometimes I wish i had been a little older to have witnessed all the steam ops out of Salida.
Even as I got older I never ventured past Colorado much, as I figured what could be better elsewhere! Finally at age 38 I made it to California to shoot the 4449, 8444,Sierra, etc. Today, if I had one place to pick to go enjoy steam it would be the C&TS and D&S areas as the great show of steam and mountain railroading lives on today. Having traveled overseas in the past, I can tell you that these are two of the best tourist lines preserved in the world for steam.
Steamingly,
Greg Scholl
PS I thought of two more reasons I liked the NG and still do..
(1) Steep grades with multiple engines slogging it out making for a great show of sights(smoke,etc), and sounds(great audio of hard working engines always gets me excited versus a trundle train).
(2) Multiple engines. Where else can you see several engines of the same class operating for one railroad, and all are authentic to that line. C&TS had 4 operational engines this year, and in years past they have had 5 and even 6 when 463 was running. Same for D&S with several engines still running. So on a given day during the summer there may be 6-8 engines operational between the two railroads. Find that anywhere else in North America!!!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2009 06:07PM by Greg Scholl.
