Re: connecting the 2

so.... if the durango and silverton and the cumbres and toltec want to join back up and haul freight (and by every indication the economics may make this profitable in the next 100 years)
I've thought about this possibility. An over the road trailer can be up to 53' long... which means that one of today's trailer loads equals two narrow gauge boxcar loads. I don't think shippers are going to be willing to settle for a smaller load size than what they get shipping via truck. We're simply not going to see trains of 30' boxcars delivering freight to the Durango Walmart.
Roadrailers might be the solution, especially if that automatic wheel regaging technology used at European borders could be installed at Antonito. However, the lines would have to be modified to allow passage of 53' long roadrailers. I suspect that this would require widening some cuts and strengthening some bridges, including Lobato trestle.
Even if it were possible, I think the shipping time would be too long for it to be viable. A roadrailer would have to go south from Denver to Walsenburg, then west to Alamosa, then south to Antonito. After an hour delay for regaging, the train would slowly wind its way over the pass, arriving in Chama a 1/2 day later (at best). It would then be another another 1/2 away from Durango. Figure a two-day transit time between Denver and Durango. A trucker can do the same delivery in just over 7 hours by using US-285 and US-160.
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Chris Webster
[www.speakeasy.org]