well said, everyone!
i, like joe taylor, didn't really realize there was another gauge until later.
i was delivered to and grew up in a house whose backyard fence was fifty ft. from center of the track running from durango to silverton. every day i watched trains headed by steam locomotives go by, either from the kitchen window or ran to the gate around the side of the garage and to trackside. it was as if it were completely normal (as it once was many decades earlier).
my earliest memory is of the flying grande on the side of the tender.
my parents took us on the train every once in a while, sure, but to be honest i had just as much fun simply watching them go by every day. i walked the tracks to access the river to go fishing, i walked the tracks and had to cross a small trestle (junction creek) to go to high school.
so, i guess what today was the D&RGW is as much apart of my childhood, my memory, as anything else that makes an impression on a kid growing up.
now i work for the confounded thing. cracking wrench and swinging hammer to see that it makes safe passage every day. sometimes i hate it but for the most part i love it very much and i know how lucky i am to have the best office around!