One of the "heros" in Durango from the late 60s on was the trainmaster, Jack Rentfrow. His entire career was in D&RGW management with most or all of it on the narrow gauge. I got to know him quite well and despite his gruff demeanor and Denver attitude, at least on the surface, he cared deeply for the narrow gauge. When the scrapping got started, he had been allowed only a handful of cars other than passenger to keep the Silverton line operating. He took it on himself to rescue a number of cars he thought necessary for the operation and removed them to safe places on the line. That's why there are (sort of were) a lot of freight cars that survived the scrapper. When told to replace the harp switch stand at Elk Park, it went to his living room at home and when his wife decreed that it was no longer welcome, Jack drove it up to Silverton and donated it to our museum.
One time I hiked down to Elk Park through the slides to take pictures of the first work train in April and asked Jack for a ride back up to the first slide. In typical company manner, he replied that company rules forbade that to happen, so I started the long hike back to the Snowshed Slide. After about 10 minutes, a motor car appeared and stopped next to me and the operator said that Jack had sent him back to pick me up. The people in the 70s cared very deeply about the Silverton branch, and people like Jack kept the boys from Denver at bay while doing his best to keep things running. And he was a company man on the surface but had his heart in his railroad.
The company policy changed abruptly after the 1970 flood. Gus Aydelott, the D&RGW president, came to Durango and addressed the community at a meeting at the Strater Hotel that I attended. He stated that they would rebuild the flood damage but only this one time, that the branch was for sale, and if we wanted to see it to continue running, "we" had best do something about it. It took 10 years for Charlie Bradshaw to surface and start the purchase, but for those years from 1970, and they had 3 engines, they did quite well. Jack retired on the last day of D&RGW ownership of the Silverton branch. My best picture of Jack: [
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