I rode the D&S today(Jun 18th), out of Durango.. No telling the names, to protect the crew that was working. Accordingly there was TWO separate derailments, both putting cars on the ground. One was in-town, just north of the fish hatchery, and the other a little further north. Two different locations, neither one in the North Valley. At each location, was a 3MPH slow order in effect, and a number of freshly dug out ties along the ROW. On the morning run, there was still several MOW Crew people standing around each location. Crew confided in me that the rail spread and the cars went down in-between the rails. WHY? BAD BAD TRACK.
Last week we ran 315 back and forth over the entire C&T line, several times.. The week before again, several passes over the route. I can first hand attest to the fact that the worst section of C&T track, is many times better than ANY of the sections on the D&S. I can not believe how bad the road bed and trackage is. In my car, every one of the riders made comments about the rock-n-roll of the train. Made for a pertty miserable ride, the whole way.
IMO: I would not be surprised if the FRA was to step in, and force the upgrade to trackage, especially after yesterdays two incidents.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2017 09:47PM by dave2-8-0.