The "North Yard" spurred off the main at 8th street, and then again into two at 9th street. They both then extended up to 11th street, directly behind the same Krogers Ace Hardware store that's there today. This was originally part of the larger rail yard the D&RGW had in Durango before it all got trimmed down with the new balloon loop installed in 1968, the D&RGW decided these two spurs were necessary to keep for whatever reason.

As far as I can tell, they simply served the same purpose as the Tacoma Siding did for many years, holding leftover freight equipment the railroad couldn't really use for passenger service. As to why it was removed is somewhat of a small mystery. Presumably, the City of Durango saw the old cars as a fire hazard, and/or wanted the space the spurs occupied as an alleyway so the businesses in the building next to them could have easy access from behind. So the cars were auctioned off or moved elsewhere on the D&S in 2004, and by 2005 the spurs were removed.

The cars in the north yard were mostly freight equipment, but there were some bunk cars and other MoW equipment like water car 0470. A friend of mine Terry Saxon got the Rotary OM kitchen car from the auction, and is located on his property now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2021 09:57AM by Joe Weigman.