Re: Exactly what is it that makes YOU,love the D&RGW narrow gauge?

Part of my childhood was spent in the Animas valley north of Durango. The railroad was still a part of the national commercial network in the late 1950's and early 1960s, so I saw the last few years of regular freight service, and the Silverton growing into a busy tourist attraction. We visited relatives in new York City most summers - and the trains there weren't as interesting. So I became hooked on narrow gauge and steam by the time I was 10.

We moved to Boulder so my father could go to the University of Colorado, and I encountered the Colorado Railroad Museum. I suspect the museum and Robert Richardson had a lot to do with my decision to make a career in history, and specifically public history (museums, archives, historic preservation etc.) We moved from Boulder to Washington State, where I've resided since.

I think what really grabbed me about the D&RGW narrow gauge was that it was a steam railroad - unlike virtually everywhere else by that time, and it was something very different from the rest of the railroads in the early to mid 1960s - wooden cars.

Charlie Mutschler
-30-