Our crew was at the Needleton Tank again last week and worked on replacing several of the main 12x12 timbers supporting the tank, and in the process, levelled the tank bottom. The structure was seriously rotten, much of it due to the leaking water pipe which sprayed the inside of the cold box. We have covered the leak with sheet lead and the water now goes down into the bottom of the cold box where there is a drain that eventually empties through a culvert into the river.
I rode down Saturday morning with our rep from the state historical society on Johnnie Martinez' patrol car. Along the way, he pointed out several sites missed by anyone riding the train, including the 1881 construction camp with three marked graves and a nice section of track under water from the 1970 flood.
Among other things, we have determined that the wood shingle roof was painted the same boxcar red as the rest of the structure. This was normally accomplished by adding pigment to linseed oil, and then painting that mixture on. It adds considerable life to the shingles.
Our ride out on the second train was with John Coker on the engine.
It should be noted that the Needleton tank would not be here now if it wasn't for the concern of the operating crews back in the early 1970s. The tank was to be destroyed, and Johnnie related to us Saturday that he had obtained the explosives permit to dynamite the structure, and the train crews came in my restaurant at the time and told me what was about to happen. Allen Nossaman was publisher of the Silverton Standard and he promptly ran a story about the impending destruction, and it was picked up by the park superintendent at Mesa Verde, who is the Dept. of Interior's point man for area designated registered historic landmarks, which the railroad is so designated. He called the D&RGW main office in Denver and expressed his concern, and very promptly, the D&RGW did an about face and flatly denied they had any intention of destroying such a "significant landmark." Some of those involved with saving the tank are still on the payroll of the D&SNG.
We likewise saved the Silverton depot and the Silverton Northern depot when they were under the D&RGW ax. The D&RGW depot was to be razed in 1969, and Dell McCoy is actually responsible for saving the Silverton Northern depot when Sundance was in Silverton, though I arranged the donation of the land from the D&RGW in one frantic morning's worth of phone calls. That was about 1977 or 78.
