Durango has become a complex small city and the railroad is but one of many elements that makes it tick. The area around the depot/yard is changing in ways never imagined 10 to 50 years ago, my time span in visiting the place. New condos/town houses are being built very close to the rail yard--the old McCoy Caterpillar place is now all town houses, and so on in a neighborhood that not too long ago was largely poor and hispanic. The smoke issues are important now when years ago it was just the breaks--put up with it because you had no choice or be someone else who could afford a better neighborhood to live in. Durango would survive with out the train, and each year as the Durango economy grows and diversifies, that becomes clearer and clearer.
I think Al Harper and his staff are being very realistic in approaching a difficult problem of trying to run a tradition based business in a city that can indeed move on without the railroad if it came to that. Much as we all agonize over our cherished coal smoke, whistles, etc., the facts are that the railroad has to be a good neighbor in order to continue to operate.
And a move of shop and roundhouse to anywhere else would be prohibitively expensive. Rule out the Animas Valley as that is filling in rapidly and the choices narrow. I suggest Silverton part in jest, but also from a realistic sense. The railroad can have shops one place and operating equipment based in another. The sidings along the line were reestablished by Bradshaw to handle a Silverton based train that he never let happen, so some of the smoke burden could be shifted to Silverton. We have our whiners up here as well, but the economy is much more dependent on the train and that's obvious.
The "sweet" smell of coal smoke wears off quickly especially if it hammers you everyday and pervades your home or business. It is a problem that has to be answered so that the railroad can continue to operate and others can enjoy their lives as well. I think from much of this discussion it appears that the only people who live in the 19th century are most of us rail fans.