Re: D&SNG in the early Days

I didn't go into Bradshaw's autocratic rule of the D&S, and Mike touches on that, but it was real and very prevading. He disliked facial hair for one thing. My escape was that he couldn't fire me, so we had an at arm's length relationship. His phone calls to me from Orlando usually began with "What in the hell are you people doing now?" But he made promises he kept about improving service, adding equipment, and he showed a real concern for getting as many people not only in Silverton by train, but to Durango as well. He started the yearly meetings in Silverton with the public at the end of the season that Al Harper continues today.

One of the first promises was to extend the season from early May through Thanksgiving. We watched with interest as the train continued to roll all the way through October, then into November. Many a day the train pushed snow as it came into town, and the crowds slowly dwindled. I think the worst passenger count was 7, but it tended to be from 25 to 60 or so the last week or two. The link shows one of these trains coming up 12th St Thanksgiving Day weekend in 1981 into a deserted street scene, thirty years ago this week. I recall counting 15 passengers on this particular full length train. Bradshaw did stick to his guns on all but a few of his promises.

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Fritz