Re: Durango Feb. 6-14, 1952

The Grande ran a "once a week" off season schedule to Silverton until Feb. 1953 (I think). The mine in Silverton closed that month and the Grande simply canceled the train for the winter - no hearings, no notice, no nothing. The story Uncle Bob tells is the regular once a week train (on Tuesday) arrived in Silverton to be told the mine was closing and to pick up every freight car in the yard and return it to Durango. They kept a large cut of box cars in Silverton for concentrate loading in the event there was an extended blockade of the line.
The interruption in service in early 1952 was caused by massive snow slides resulting from the monster storms that also closed Cumbres for nearly a month. While a constant stream of work trains ventured forth from Durango, Silverton wasn't reached until sometime in May, shortly after the line was opened, spring thaw flooded the canyon, washing out a lot of track. Regular tri-weekly operation of the summer Silverton train didn't shappen until July that year.
If it ain't fire, it's flood.