Looks a little cool in Silverton, Fritz -
To warm you up before you head up the mountain, or to thaw you out after you get back,
here are a few more from the good old days when Durango was still a REAL railroad town.
Roger Callender and Keith Kirby were high-school friends of my college room-mate Max Power, all of Denver. Keith & Roger each became President of the Rocky Club at different times in the early and mid 1990's. In August, 1966, the four of us spent about a week bumming around in Narrow Gauge Country - chasing freights from Durango to Gato, Big Horn to Chama, and Chama to Cumbres. It was on this trip that we first met Ernie Robart and Olaf Rasmussen; the six of us enjoyed our lunches while watching a two-engine freight progress less than a hundred yards in close to an hour while fighting the thick weeds that had accumulated at the S-curve near m.p. 337 during a six-week break in D&RGW operations due to a problem on the Farmington branch.
(Edited 05/22/15): These first few are of the yard in Durango, almost undoubtedly on a quiet Sunday afternoon before the usual Monday eastbound freight - August
14, 1966.
* The sand house, coaling tower and water tower in heart of the yard
:
Another view of the sand house and hopper, with the roundhouse behind
:
The loading chute, gate and control mechanism on the coaling tower
:
A silhouette of the coaling tower, with a few gons of coal from Monero
:
Looking toward the depot from near the water tower:
That's it for now.
- Roosso
* Added 05/22/15: Per an email from Ernie, #492 did run from Durango to Chama on August 25, 1966 - but without a helper. Per Jimmy Blouch, #492 also ran from Durango to Chama
- WITH #483 - on August 15th, so the photos in the yard were almost certainly taken on the very quiet Sunday afternoon of August 14th, 1966, and the later photos at Gato (below) were taken on the 15th.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2017 07:22PM by Russo Loco.