Re: Tourism in Durango and Movies

It seems to me that the first serious attempt by the DRGW to abandon the Durango-Silverton run was in the fall of 1949, into 1950. The local newspaper, the Durango Herald Democrat, reported on Nov 22, 1949 that the DRGRR reported it had lost $80,000 on the Durango line. This was revealed during testimony taken as part of the DRGW's attempt to abandon the line. Into January of 1950 there were many articles in the newspaper about these hearings, but finally the railroad lost its attempt to cease traffic into Durango and Silverton.
The local people here in Durango fought hard, and often, to keep rail service. Alva Lyons, conductor for many years, was one of many leading the fight.
There are many lists of films using the railroad. Jensen's book contains such. Another book, with a larger scope, is "Cinema Southwest" by John A. Murray (pub-Northland, 2000). Films made here which did not use the railroad include "Sand" (1949), a fabulous story of a horse. It has scenes of canyons around Molas Lake, from the air, as the searches were looking for the horse. Then there is "How the West was Won" and "Across the Wide Missouri". More recently, "Avalanche" (Rock Hudson) was filmed here, but that is not "western". Nor were the adventures of Clarke Griswold's family just west of Durango in "National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) The most famous recent film of the western genre is surely "City Slickers". The star of that, Billy Crystal, is rumored to have so liked the area that he had a house built northeast of Durango.
John Wayne's character in "The Cowboys" (1972) dies. Unusual for Wayne. This movie was filmed on private ranches in the San Juan valley east of Durango. He was in "How the West Was Won". He was never on the DRGW, but one of his earliest films was a 12 part serial titles "Hurrican Express", of which the railroad is the star of the thriller.
The film I most would like to see is Jim Jarvis' 8 minute "Small Town Vamp"(1917), which opens with a telegrapher daydreaming at the Durango Depot.
During the best years of films using the DRGW, there were no McDonald's in Durango. The town was really a hardscrabble place.
Bill Ramaley