Re: Railroaders other jobs

John Degani had a farm near Allison, but also a house on 3rd Ave near 3rd St. in Durango. Jim Pearce worked for the Vanadium Corp of America at the Durango smelter when he was cut off. Eldon MOrgan worked a couple of stints for the Colorado & Wyoming in Pueblo. In later years some of the Durango guys were school teachers.

Durango was a tough place to work. There were a lot of old heads on the board there and in the big picture not a lot of trains run. Even when business was booming, there might be 4 trains out at one time (2 on the main one to Farmington and one to Silverton) plus the switch crew. When the pipe biz was big, the Silverton Branch was 1-2 times a week in the winter.

Jim Pearce told me he took the Road Foreman of Equipment job only because he could have a steady paycheck. After 15 years on the railroad and all the real old guys being forced to retire at 70 starting in 1960, he was still cut off most of the winter.