kcsivils Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. West's photos of the carnage have raised some
> questions in my mind.
>
> I can understand the quick demolition of the
> Alamosa shops - taxes off the books. Makes the
> bean counters happy.
>
> But given the fact the Grande was stuck with the
> Silverton, why not take as much of the shop
> equipment over to Durango as possible?
>
> Also, given the fact the states bought what is now
> C&TS, why the carnage and insistence on scrapping
> everything?
>
> I understand the need to keep some locomotives off
> the for sale list as a parts source, if that was
> their excuse, for the Silverton branch.
>
> Why was the Rio Grande so determined to wipe out
> any trace of the narrow gauge?
>
> Seems to me selling old stuff you don't want to an
> entity that was going to put it to use versus a
> scrapper who was going to melt it down was just as
> good a solution. You got rid of the stuff and you
> got a few pennies for it. Bean counters happy
> again.
>
> In all the years I have researched and read about
> the San Juan extension, other than the fact
> management wanted it gone, I've never found an
> explanation for the way things ended.
>
> Any light that is accurate and verifiable that can
> be shed on the subject would be appreciated.
I'm sure other will add to this thread but the Grande really didn't see any future with the NG and it was considered nuisance. They had been denied so many time to abandon the NG I think when they finally got approval they wanted to wipe it out as quickly as possible. They purposely destroyed revenue streams that were coming in from the NG. The San Juan could have run until abandonment but the Grande is the culprit that squashed the mail contract. From what I've heard and read in the 70's the Silverton branch was being run with inadequate resources but kept things going--fortunately it was sold in the 1980 and saved. I think in the end the D&RGW Management was blinded from wanting to be a class-1 giant and the silly NG was holding them back? I don't know for sure, but I do know a lot of D&RGW employee's loved the NG and did a lot to save what we see today and take care of it so well when it was running. So hats off to all those great folks.
William
aka drgwk37
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2017 12:37PM by drgwk37.