Re: Alamosa January 27 1945

Laurence:

Jimmy will probably provide an answer, but as I am writing two books on D&RGW and RGS snow fighting, will give you some info.

The D&RGW used a flanger and an engine with a wedge plow on almost every Silverton run going back to the beginning. Before the train became a mixed, they would run separate flanger trains. After it became a mixed, they would include the flanger in the train, usually with a helper engine. D&RGW rules prohibited using the flanger to flange while in a freight or mixed train, so the crew would stop, uncouple the engines and flanger from the rest of the train, flange ahead as far as needed, then back up for the train. Photos taken in the early 1940s show engine 459 with a wedge plow, Flanger OH, and 478 doing just this.

Jerry Day
Longmont, CO
lbiemiller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Jimmy,
>
> This week's posts showing the D&S crew trying to
> plow and flange and spread up as far as Cascade
> make me wonder how the branch was kept open all
> the way to Silverton in winter when it only had
> Tuesday-Saturday service. Clearly Colorado had
> plenty of snow back in the day, since your posts
> show lots of time spent flanging yards and
> sidings. Would section crews have kept the
> Silverton branch open with speeders and other
> equipment whose movements wouldn't have been
> recorded? Would MOW-only trains on the Silverton
> branch turn up in the records if any ran?
>
> And thanks again for these posts!
>
> -- Lawrence