Putting aside my usual snotty comments on Charmington (and best not get going on Cortez!) I am very much aware of the irony that without the San Juan Basin oil boom that both the Silverton branch and the Cumbres Pass lines would have suffered the same fate as the Marshall Pass line...torn out without a murmur of protest except for the lonely voice of Bob Richardson and other stalwarts of the preservation community. Without the oil boom the lines would be gone...no Hollywood movies to publicize the area, no influx of tourists and most of all no awareness by the locals they had a potential tourist draw on their hands. I may be wrong but I think that there was very little protest from Gunnison about the demise of Marshall Pass. And the boom died at just about the right time too...if the DRGW thought there was a long term value they would changed the inefficiencies of steam powered narrow guage. Probably not a big buck change like standard guage but strengthen the rail & bridges, improve clearances and scrap everything from our precious steam engines, water tanks, rounhouses etc etc and bring in narrow guage diesels. There's not a time when I am riding either the D&S or CT&S and marvel how close we came to losing EVERYTHING and be left like C&S fans and have hardly anything (except for the Como roundhouse of course). A LOT was lost but is indeed a miracle that it wasn't ALL lost and for that we Durangatangs snots must thank the hard working men and women in the oil & gas fields.
And yes, everytime I am in Farmington I always fill up the truck because the price differential is usually startling considering that its only 50 miles from Durango
Husker Hank
Durango