Re: D&RGW Durango-Silverton train desination

Hey Russ,

You probably remember I was running the day of that drop into the Minco spur. Us guys from Chama were not experienced in doing flying drops, since they weren't allowed on the C&TS. Consequently, it took me two tries to get it right. On the first attempt, I didn't get moving fast enough, and the flat ground to a halt before getting to the switch. So on the second attempt, with the encouragement of Jim Mayer, I got the thing moving pretty good. With the flat uncoupled, we sped across the switch with the locomotive, then the brakeman (I think it was Rob Denier) threw the switch and the flat rolled smartly onto the spur. The conductor, John Gareffa, riding on the flat, started reefing on the hand brake wheel as hard as he could, but the effect was negligible. The spur was pretty short, and John could see that the car was going to impact the embankment at the end of the spur at a fairly good clip so he wisely bailed off before it hit. He was lucky he didn't injure a foot or leg in the landing. If I remember correctly, the 55 gallon barrel on the flat was actually full of diesel (that was the freight we were delivering), and it still went flying. It was all pretty comical to watch, but only because no one was hurt and there was no significant damage to any equipment.

Mark