Rio Grande Southern Engine #20 To Be Restored

According to the Colorado Railroad Museum, Rio Grande Southern engine #20, long stored on the museum grounds on loan from the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club has been officially donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum, along with Business Car Rico and D&RGW caboose 0578.

Of more significance, however, is the fact that #20 will be restored. From CRRM's Iron Horse News,

An anonymous donor has donated $400,000 to fund a rebuild of the 20 to operating condition, specifying that all work would be done by the Strasburg Railroad shops in Pennsylvania. Another $100,000 has been placed as an endowment to maintain the engine. The 20 and its tender, plus the tender for 346, have been trucked to Strasburg, and work on determining the condition of the boiler and running gear will commence as soon as possible.

To my knowledge, the museum has been without owning an operating steam engine since work was begun to overhaul D&RGW #346, which was due for some time. However, since the Georgetown Loop Railroad Inc. lost it's lease with the State Historical Society to operate over the Georgetown Loop, their locomotives and cars have been stored on the grounds and operated occasionally.

On a related note, there is a rumor that the owners of the ex-Georgetown equipment are considering placing a third rail down the Royal Gorge Route, which they also own. A tender on one of the engines has been labled with the flying Royal Gorge logo in white. Could we possibly one day hear a steam whistle once again echoing up from the depths of the Gorge? Only time will tell.

Durango & Silverton Survives Floods, Mudslides

Earlier this week, floods and mudslides threatened the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Paul Schranck, VP and General Manager of the D&SNGRR, toured the damage by helicopter. He found that the floods were located at milepost 46.6, just above Needleton. The slides were 10 to 12 feet at the rails and it took three days to clear the blockage. Today, service is restored and the first train should pull into Silverton at 12:30 PM.

According to Trains magazine, the floods came down on Friday after several inches of rain fell in the Animas River watershed, causing the river to rise dramatically. No trouble was detected until the first afternoon train left Silverton.

The engineer stopped the train, although engine 482 suffered some damage from running into the rockslide. Evenso, he was able to start backing the train toward Silverton. The engine was running low on water and had to stop and drop its fire at MP 494. To rescue the train, engine 481 from the second train at Silverton was dispatched south to pull the train back into town; passengers from the second train were bused back to Durango.

Both trains were stranded at Silverton and the passengers of the first train ate dinner in Silverton and were bussed back to Durango. As far as the emergency stop by the first train, the train's typical top speed is only 18 MPH in open country and runs slower in the canyon where the mudslide occurred, meaning that the passengers likely only suffered the jolt of the brakes to stop. No injuries were reported.

With more snow and rain in the forecast, the battle may not yet be over.

Steam Engines In Hot Water With Durango Residents

According to Trains, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is under pressure by residents to stop their steam engines from smoking...

On Oct. 19, a Train Smoke Mitigation Task Force will hold a public meeting in the Fort Lewis College Student Memorial Lounge to present the results of the recent feasibility study.

John Rimmasch, chief executive officer of Wasatch Railroad Contractors, will present the findings and recommendations of the study to the public at 6:30 p.m. Colorado's Air Quality Control Commission will attend the presentation and participate in discussion. A public question and comment session will also take place.

Currently, they are talking about changing the existing smoke stacks on the engines, putting a separate scrubber on the stack or switching the trains to alternative fuels like wood pellets or natural gas except when the trains are hauling tourists.

The Denver Post further explains,

Durangoans acknowledge the iron horse as the town's economic engine, but neighbors living just south and east of the downtown train yards have long complained about the black pall that sometimes hangs over their part of town at night. They hate the black soot that gathers on windowsills and smudges clothes hanging on the line.

Few things make me boil over (sorry) faster than people meddling with what has become a living legend in the tourist railroad business. What did they think they were getting when they moved near the railroad, an electrified trolley line? Instead, 125 years of tradition is just brushed aside because someone likes to line dry their laundry instead of using a dryer or hanging it up indoors.

Durango has long been a tourist town, but before that, as late as the 50s and 60s, it was a real working railroad town, serving as the junction point of two narrow gauge carriers that are the subject of many books and videos. Durango is perhaps the steam mecca of Colorado. Engines are already running under C&S-style bear trap stacks (Ridgway Spark Arrestors) that were never run on such locomotives, at least not while on their native rails. Converting an engine to run on duel fuel further reduces the historic authenticity of the steam engines and the railroad as a whole. It chips away at the legend. What's next? Demanding that they burn wood 100% of the time? Leave that to the Eureka & Palisade.

Many a night, I would go down to the areas around the depot in Durango and walk around, smelling the coal smoke as if it were lilacs in May. It appears that the next time I walk near the depot and roundhouse, with the smell of wood pellets, I'll get more of an urge to go get barbeque than ride the train.

People who move to the Las Animas River valley need to bear in mind one thing when they purchase their home: the railroad was there first. It's been there since 1881, and unlike so many other places in Colorado, the railroad is not going to pack it in.

The Odd Kinship Of Monarch and Marshall Passes

Monarch Pass and Marshall Pass have had an odd kinship in the 20th century. Back when highway engineers were planning US 50 in the 1930s, they had to pick one of three routes, Monarch, Marshall, or Cochetopa/Kebler. Cochetopa had the lowest crossing making it the friendliest to trucking, but not to local business. Marshall was lower than Monarch, meaning less snow, and the favorite of Salida's city council. According to route50.com,

A highway, it was argued, built on Marshall would have the added advantage of not having to cross the railroad switchbacks that were on the eastern slope of Monarch Pass, part of the spur line that served the limestone quarry.

In fact, I believe the only thing Monarch Pass had going for it as the route of US 50 was...it's name. Monarch was known as Monarch-Agate Pass to the state highway department and rumor has it that Charles D. Vail, the State Engineer, planned to give Monarch-Agate a much more simple and modest name...Vail Pass. Alas, it was not to be, likely because local residents objected. Instead, a crossing west of Dillon would be given that "honor." Highway 50 still went over Monarch, but without Vail's name attached to it.

Marshall Pass lost its rails in 1955; Monarch in the early 1980s. Marshall has a lonely Forest Service road built on much of the old narrow gauge roadbed while Monarch retains US 50. Had the highway been built over Marshall, it's possible the narrow gauge grade would have been obliterated by an ever-widening highway in the 60s and 70s.

Today, it's still possible to examine much of the Marshall Pass line as it travels between Poncha Springs and Gunnison. It's a quiet, peaceful place, and although no structures still exist on the summit, it's still possible to imagine the whistles of engines working their way to the summit.