Coal Fades From the Durango & Silverton

Over 142 years of coal-fired steaming is finally coming to an end in Durango. 

Let that sink in a moment. Your grandfather never knew a day without coal affecting his life. Whether he knew it or not, coal fired his morning whether he used an electric toaster or a gas-fired water heater. The coffee he drank was brought to his country by a steam ship or roasted by steam or brewed and somewhere in the loop, there was, as likely as not, coal. 

When I was a kid, my class and I toured the massive Coors Brewery in Golden, on the other side of Clear Creek from the Colorado Railroad Museum. In the bowels of the plant, generating the power for the entire complex, boiling mash, and heating the entire plant as well as the Colorado School of Mines! Inside the plant, massive boilers fired by natural gas and--you got it--coal surged with energy for all that light, heat and cold, to make the best beer in the world (micro brews notwithstanding), along with the best geological minds known to man. I might be a bit biased because my uncle Clifford graduated from there. Inside the furnace, a large, flaming tornado of coal whips around in the combustion chamber in a scene that is slightly terrifying even while it is contained inside by convective air currents and steel walls. The power plant continues to burn on even today, but with more flexibility.1

A coal fire inside a locomotive is no fire tornado but no less intense; a scene worthy of a medieval poetic vision of hell. Small mountains and valleys aglow in hundreds and thousands of shades of luminescent orange. Open the door used to feed the iron horse and a wall of heat rolls out and bathes the entire landing with radiant energy. Leave the door open too long and it threatens to set the denim and wool worn in the cab alight. Children, especially those fascinated by fire, visit the cab with their parents to get a peep of the firebox. Watch the warmth fill their cheeks and their eyes alight with that amazing flame that powered us out of the sticks.

For the men and women firing a locomotive with coal is part science and part art. The engineer may command the locomotive but the fireman is the power and heart of the locomotive. Fire it well and you arrive at the destination on time or early. Fire it worse and the speed suffers, the schedule falls behind, or it could be that you don't arrive at all. On mountain railroads like the Rio Grande and Colorado & Southern, along with their surviving remnants, coal firing meant a specific dynamic for the cab. 

It was said long ago, "The engineer sleeps on the uphill side, the fireman sleeps on the downhill," Little sleeping ever happened for either side of the cab, obviously. Nevertheless, when the train is going uphill, an engineer need only make sure the engine is not slipping. Meanwhile the fireman must shovel a great deal of coal to generate all the steam the engine is using, pulling against all the cars and gravity. He needs to make sure there's an even bed of coal burning and burning as evenly as possible, even while jostling and shaking its way up the grade. Downhill, conversely, the fireman rests more as the engine is mostly idle, only generating air pressure for the engineer. His job is to keep the entire train from gravity's clutches with the air brakes. An engineer who wasted steam and a fireman who wasted coal meant problems. 

The art of steaming is still alive and well because every steam railroad uses the same basic principles to drive a locomotive. The art of firing a locomotive is going the way of the manual transmission and handmade consumables, unfortunately. There are several reasons, and not just the obvious one.

The first and most obvious is that coal produces ash in the form of cinders. Not only must these cinders be cleaned out every day at a special location called the ash pit, but during combustion, small bits of still-burning coal in the process of becoming ash can be carried through the boiler tubes and out the stack with the smoke of the engine. The more the engine works, the more ash it produces. The harder the steam works, the more forceful the stack ejects the ash, carrying it further. On windy days and in dry conditions, this has become a serious risk to the railroad and, sadly, more than one wildfire has sprung from an ill-fated cinder that escaped and flew too far. This makes the railroad a risk to every family in the valley. Mitigation of removing combustible fuels and screens and water misting the stack have not been enough some years. In fact, the very scenery of San Juan National Forest the train travels through is put at risk of burning to ashes. And you thought the cinders hurt your eyes!

Another reason is the coating of ash that has drifted down over the Animas River valley. Some years, in downtown Durango it was palpable. Although the railroad has worked in recent decades to decrease the burden on surrounding businesses by using a wood-based alternative fuel to bunker the locomotives overnight.

This brings us to a hidden reason for switching from coal. Every night, the roundhouse and the engines idled in the yard must bunker each coal fire. The boiler of each engine to be used the next day needs to be kept warm with a fire that continues to burn through the night, tended overnight by staff. No bunker, and a crew would have to show up much earlier each morning and consequently run into service time limits. Instead, for more than 14 decades, a hostler tends each fire in the roundhouse as the engines doze with steam wisps and the quiet of a small downtown. 

For months, the mechanical staff have labored to switch the insides of each Mikado from coal to oil. Rather than working a bed of fire, a fireman simply works the atomizer and heat to bring the fuel to life in the firebox. The oil is kept warm, lest it get too thick to form the mist, but otherwise requires no skill and no magic to coax rock to burn. Last Mikado to change is engine 481 which will undergo conversion this spring. From the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad blog, 

... The D&SNG’s last active coal burning locomotive, number 481, will see its final winter as a coal burning engine before undergoing a conversion to burn oil later in 2024. “A few years ago I always thought we would want to keep a coal burner,” said Randy Babcock, AHR Chief Mechanical Officer “the reality is that it just doesn’t make business sense to maintain a locomotive that we only intend to use a quarter of the year.” [archive]

Much as I would love for the only continuous, all Colorado narrow gauge heritage railroad to continue to burn the same fuel they've always used from Hesperus,2 the railroad has to live in harmony with everyone else in their valley. Two towns and two counties rely more than a little on this enterprise that prospers every summer and winter with a great amount of tourism, the majority from outside the region. 

The change has already been very apparent on engines emerging from Durango each day the past summer and fall, with engine stacks free of cinder screens or water halos and, my sister will be happy to note, children will have to go somewhere else to get a cinder in their eye!3 I will miss the smell of coal smoke, but its a small price to pay for the health and wellbeing of a living, breathing steam engine program showing everyone what nineteenth century tech can do for people in the 2020s. 

As of February, seats for early summer season are readily available. Come May, that will absolutely change. We're all counting on it! ⚒

Footnotes

1 - Colorado Energy Nations Boiler 5 Upgrade Project at Powermag.com and at archive.org

2 - King II mine - Global Energy Monitor wiki

3 - When I asked my sister if she remembered her trip 45 years later, she said that her eyes still hurt. Bless her heart!

POTD - Big Boy Under Threatening Skies

Photo of the Day: BUFFIE

Earlier this month, Union Pacific's Steam collective in Wyoming needed to stretch their Big Boy's legs before beginning their summer trip to New Orleans. A quiet trip to Denver seemed to be in order. Intrepid Denver-based rail photographer BUFFIE caught up with UP 4014 leaving Platteville on the trip back north to Cheyenne. The threatening skies and ideal lighting and classic black-and-white subject make it an easy candidate for Photo of the Day.⚒

The Beginning of the End for UP 3985

Challenger 3985 charges south with the Circus Train toward Denver September 28, 2010
Photo: John H. Hill

While fans of the Union Pacific come down from the high of their inaugural season of Big Boy 4014, it cannot be all good news coming from Cheyenne, the heart of UP Steam just over the border in Wyoming. UP announced their intention to retire Challenger-type 3985, the other articulated steam locomotive inhabiting the UP Steam shops.

Built in July 1943 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and retired by UP in 1962, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger was restored as a volunteer-initiated project back in 1979. Returned to service with UP in April 1981 and converted to oil in 1990, it held the title of world's largest operating steam locomotive until the return of Big Boy 4014 in May 2019, although its last active run was in October 2010.

Why not keep her running? Apart from UP Steam having its hands full with 844 and 4014, the other two big steam engines, 3985 was looking at a long and extensive restoration. According to Kevin P. Keefe, "Such are the consequences of running the wheels off it," since its return to service. Weighing this against the decreased demand, there's just not that much reason to keep her active.

Nonetheless, any time a steamer goes silent, it's a sad day for the railfan. Like Keefe, I feel a need to honor the Challenger. Keefe says,

With all due respect to N&W 2-6-6-4 No. 1218 and its brethren, I can’t see how UP’s 4-6-6-4s cannot be considered the world’s most successful simple articulateds, given their sterling dual-service operational record on UP, not to mention how they begat near-carbon-copies on Clinchfield, D&H, Northern Pacific, and SP&S.

Those near-carbon-copies on Clinchfield? They were delivered to the Rio Grande as their L-97 class, numbered 3800-3805 in May and June 1943. They served until 1947 when the D&RGW sold them to the Clinchfield, renumbering them 670-675.¹ The Rio Grande didn't actually want the Challengers, either. They wanted 5 more Baldwin 4-6-6-4s (Class L-105), but the War Production board assigned the Alcos by tacking them on to the Union Pacific's order. The Rio Grande opted not to buy them, instead leasing them from the Defense Plant Corporation. They were, in 1943, the last new steam engines the Rio Grande ever received.² So, for many born after 1950, the Challenger a way for us to witness, perhaps unwittingly, the Rio Grande's main line steam in the post-war years.

Let us remember perhaps the most important aspect of the Challenger's story: the volunteer initiative to restore it to service. Few at Union Pacific saw the advantages of full restoration except these volunteers. The uses of old steamers was limited to park centerpieces to bolster civic pride. The public perception was that railroads were profit-shy and mired in regulation and bureaucracy. Additionally, eight years earlier, Amtrak had removed the last point of contact of the Union Pacific with the American public. Aside from delaying drivers at grade crossings, there was no reminder to the public of the services the railroad provided to the public. It's not a huge stretch to say that without the volunteers stepping forward, Union Pacific's public image would be far less than it is today.

While an ending, this is not necessarily the utter end for 3985. Challenger will sit in the Cheyenne roundhouse alongside her stablemates for the foreseeable future. It costs very little to preserve a steam locomotive already sheltered from the elements. Perchance it might cost little more if a slow, paced restoration was quietly undertaken? Perhaps in another 20 years, we may see the need for three steam locomotives in the steam program. It's always a possibility, especially if UP continues using steam to power its public relations.⚒

References
¹ Locomotives of the Rio Grande by the Colorado Railroad Museum p.59
² Rio Grande: To the Pacific! by Robert LaMassena p.160

UP Steam #3985 Fact Sheet
Wikipedia

Denver & Rio Grande Engine 168 Fired and Steaming Up For a Big 2020 Celebration

For the first time since most of us were born, narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande steam engine 168 turned her wheels under steam. Trains Magazine reports,

On Friday night, 3-foot gauge Denver & Rio Grande 4-6-0 No. 168 ran for the first time in 70 years, following an extensive restoration at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Friday’s test run consisted of a brief trip around the Antonito yard. C&TS Assistant General Manager Stathi Pappas says the 136-year-old Baldwin locomotive was being fired up again on Monday for another test. 

“The test went great,” Pappas says of the locomotive’s first run since 1938.

Engine 168 in Black Canyon
 of the Gunnison in 1904

The engine will be matched with purpose-built replica passenger cars to roll behind her in what will likely be a very memorable 50 year-anniversary celebration of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico teamed together to purchase the narrow gauge segment of the San Juan Extension that runs between Antonito Colorado and Chama New Mexico when it appeared certain that the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad was abandoning the line. Since then, a six-member commission led by both states has supervised the investment in the C&TS, with an emphasis in history and preservation, something with which the restoration of engine 168 falls right in line. Having an active volunteer organization dedicated to assisting that mission with hands and feet, hearts and minds doesn't hurt, either.

Engine 168 is an important historic artifact to Colorado and to railroading. While it's a steam engine, something that last roamed the rails en masse 70 years ago, it's also narrow gauge, designed to run on rails 3 feet apart, rather than the standard 4 feet 8½ inches apart. There are dozens of these narrow gauge engines in the state of Colorado already, and they're all worthy of preservation. What makes 168 so unique is that it is one of two surviving class T-12 locomotives built in 1883 for General William Palmer's original vision of the D&RG connecting Denver with El Paso and Mexico City.

168 Awaiting President Taft in Montrose, 1909

The Rio Grande never reached further south than Santa Fe, but the engine would go on to haul passengers throughout the state and beyond. One of its more important roles was to carry then-President William Taft to the opening of the Gunnison Tunnel, a record-length water supply tunnel that turned the land around Montrose into a veritable garden beginning in 1909.

As railroads around the state prepare to rest or at least scale back activities for the winter, it's worth contemplating how many engines are now in steam that were dry and static several years ago. Certainly, such a recounting is worth its own post! ⚒

Of Lines Loved and Lost

For Christmas, I received Narrow Gauge in the Rockies by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, sixth printing, first published in 1958. It is illustrated with photos from W.H. Jackson, Otto Perry, and Richard Kindig, and paintings by Howard Fogg. Its pages are flowing with history and elaborate, almost florid accounts of life surrounding the narrow gauge in Colorado. Its foreword speaks of the narrow gauge railfan as if they were the Hebrews of old, saying,

To perpetuate the memory of the narrow gauges a generation that would gladly exchange the com­forts of here and now for yesterday in Boreas Pass has taken steps that stand as a testament of de­votion without parallel among other antiquar­ians no matter how dedicated. The Rocky Mount­ain Railroad Club tells their story in volumes that only a toler­ably strong man may heft; there is a Narrow Gauge Museum and Motel at Alamosa toward which dedi­cated railroad buffs every­where as Moslems [sic] toward Mec­ca; there is a periodical devoted solely to narrow gauge tidings which is the de­votion­al reading of The Faith­ful, and there are narrow gauge books, pamph­lets, post cards, ex­cursions, engine models, book ends, beer mugs, paperweights and pictured likenesses of the cars beyond all counting. To have ridden the San Juan or the Silverton Train is a greater experience than to have seen Shelley plain. The Faithful sigh for the snowsheds of Lizard Head and by the waters of Gunnison they sat them down and wept.

Even though it's a bit ostentatious and maybe pretentious in its prose, I can't help but see myself in this paragraph. I have indeed turned myself toward Golden (now where the said Museum and former-motel owner moved from Alamosa), bought countless mementos, ridden the Silverton Train and the surviving portion of the San Juan each many times over. I mourned the loss of the Rio Grande Southern while walking Lizard Head Pass and sat in the depths of the Gunnison and--I kid you not--wept bitter tears silently by its banks that the Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge is no more.

Am I embarrassed to admit to those tears? No. Those who don't understand the loss and share in the grief have my pity. Furthermore, for all the faults, both real and perceived, the days of yesterday contained, they also had gems, real and perceived, that today's progressed people have never experienced. It is truly a loss that our forebears did not retain them.

Nonetheless, I cannot stand in judgment of those who failed to keep those lost treasures, for one by one, other, non-narrow gauge lines are similarly dying in front of our eyes with only a little interest shown in preserving them. I am thinking chiefly of the Tennessee Pass line from Pueblo all the way to Dotsero. It is more than 21 years after seeing its last through revenue train, and the line is suffering from profound neglect.

This may be just my own opinion, but it seems Union Pacific cares little for jobs or industry in Salida, Leadville or Minturn. With the closure of Burnham and other points and routes, it's easy to think that the suits sitting in UP headquarters wonder why all jobs can't be based in Omaha, Seattle and San Diego. It's highly doubtful we would fare better with CSX or NS, were they to merge with the UP.

I believe the citizens of Colorado and her government need to be able and willing to use their powers to preserve the thoroughfares built and maintained by generations before so that the means of moving people and goods through Colorado does not waste away. Even the Moffat Route is not impervious to the forces of consolidation and removal. Am I looking at a future in which Granby and Craig sit isolated like Gunnison and Dolores and the Moffat Tunnel lies in ruins like the Alpine Tunnel? I sincerely hope not.⚒


Beebe, L., & Clegg, C. (1970). Narrow gauge in the Rockies. Berkeley, Calif: Howell-North

POTD - Main Line Steam at LaSalle

John Hill captured Union Pacific legend No. 844 as it crested the slight grade at LaSalle, Colorado, on her speedy way from Cheyenne to Denver on Thursday, July 19, 2018, to pick up her passengers for the Cheyenne Frontier Days special. Since its revival in 1992, the Denver Post has chartered the special to haul nearly 800 passengers from Denver over the Wyoming state line for a day of catered meals, dancing, live music, socializing, and games, and that's just the fun onboard. There's still a rodeo to watch when they get there!

Photo of the Day: John Hill

Union Pacific 844 leads diesel 1943, The Spirit, an SD70ACe painted in a unique livery celebrating the nation's armed forces and its 5 branches. The diesel commemorates a U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 bomber, The Spirit of Union Pacific, purchased in 1943 by employee war bonds to support America's winning role in World War II.

The CFD Special would not complete this year without incident. On July 21st, two days after this photo, the train clipped a woman standing too close to the rails at a crossing near Henderson, killing her on impact. Her death halted the train and passengers were bused from Henderson to Denver 2 hours later. On its site, Union Pacific requests the public keep a minimum distance of 25 feet away from any track. ⚒

Timeless Lines To a Locomotive

The following poem, a "prophetic tribute," written by Hon. William D. Lewis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was composed around 1840, a dozen years after the first railroad in America. It was first published in the Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia) and reprinted in Trains magazine's December 1964 issue on page 35. While technology has changed all but the most basic concept of the railroad in the 177 years since, and time itself has rendered the verse archaic, the imagery and themes are vivid and timeless and just as easily apply to the railroads of Colorado today.

Lines To A Locomotive
by Hon. William D. Lewis

Sublimest courser of the plain,
Whom toil can neither daunt, nor tire,
Onward thou bear'st thy lengthened train, 
With iron nerves and lungs of fire.

Boldest exploit of daring man,
Whose restless and impatient mind,
Infringes nature's general plan,
And leaves with thee the winds behind.

No match for thee in airy race,
The eagle, borne on sounding winds,
Envying he views thy lightning pace,
Most wondrous of earth's wondrous things.

As some bright meteor of the sky, 
Or some unsphered and shooting star,
Thou, locomotive, seems to fly,
Beheld by dazzled eyes afar.

Science and skill their aid impart,
Trained, hills to level, valleys rear,
Thy pathway smoothed by laboring art,
To urge thee in thy swift career.

On then, majestic, mighty steed,
Speed thy fast flight from clime to clime,
To thee,the glorious task decreed,
To cancel space, to vanquish time. ⚒

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic To Run Special Christmas Trains In Toy & Food Drive

If there weren't ads out there telling us "the season" is coming, the weather itself is reminding us: Christmas is on the way! Retailers depend on Christmas to make their annual margin and use ads to drive the sales up. While there's always a family we seem to know that spends itself silly in a celebration of excess, there's a very different reason for the season, and that is driving why I am supporting the following.

Christmas can be stressful for parents. Some plan and spend, other parents worry and wish. They know their family isn't going to get much of a Christmas, no matter what they do. They need help just to keep food on the table and heat in their home, let alone toys or clothes for the kids. Many families in the San Luis Valley know especially the problems of scarcity. What's more, this year, many charities have been stretched thin by the hurricanes and floods. That's why I was excited to read about the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad's Toy & Food Drive. Here's what's happening:

Celebrate the Season on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad’s Santa Train

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Collecting Toys or Food Items to Benefit Toys for Tots & Food Bank

Antonito Departures on Dec. 9 & 10; Chama Departures on Dec. 16 & 17

ANTONITO, CO & CHAMA, NM -- To help make the holiday season a little brighter for those in need, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TS RR) will again be running holiday trains to collect food and toys to distribute in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.  The one-hour rides are free for children (11 and under) and only $5 for adults (ages 12+). A donation of either

• a non-perishable food item, or...
• a new boxed toy

per person is requested.

Last year, the railroad collected more than 5,500 pounds of food and 1,000 toys, which were all distributed in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and in Northern New Mexico.

Last year in Chama
Photos: Roger Hogan

The highest and longest narrow-gauge steam railroad in America is owned jointly by the states of Colorado and New Mexico with stations in both Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. This is a wonderful opportunity for families to experience the thrill of a steam locomotive in winter, while also helping those in need in the community.

There will be two different opportunities to experience the C&TSRR Christmas Trains, either

• departing from Antonito, Colorado on December 9 or 10, or...
• departing from Chama, New Mexico on December 16 or 17

The Antonito departures will climb the foothills of the San Juan Mountains to the Ferguson Trestle and back, while the Chama departures will run to the Lobato Trestle and back. Santa and Mrs. Claus will visit with children onboard and Santa’s elves will serve complimentary hot chocolate and cookies during the ride.

All food and toy donations are distributed to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation from Antonito and the Antonito Food Bank to recipients in the local area. Food and toy donations in Chama are distributed locally by the Chama Fire Department Toy Collection and the local Chama Valley Pantry operated by the Rio Arriba County Echo Food Bank.

To make your reservation on the C&TS RR Christmas Trains, go to http://cumbrestoltec.com/schedule-fares/special-events/ and click on the Christmas Train link or call the train depot at 888-286-2737. Train rides start at 10 a.m., with the last train departing at 4 p.m.

Wouldn't it be great to take your children shopping for a toy they would like to give? It's great to hear the insights they have as they pick out the right one. Then, let them bring it to the station as part of your Christmas celebration. Sometimes the biggest reward is seeing the warmth in your child's heart. ⚒

POTD - Cheyenne Frontier Days Special Rides Again

It almost goes without saying. This year's Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo had a steam special run by Union Pacific. I say almost because, although it has been a regular trip for many years, a lot of planning, effort and money go into making this event happen every year. The citizens of both Wyoming and Colorado owe a debt to The Denver Post, Union Pacific, and the many staff and volunteers who invest their time and effort to making the CFD Special happen. Without it, the rodeo wouldn't be as popular and the economic impact would be profound. Highball, UP 844!

Photo of the Day: John H. Hill

Today's photo of the day is by Colorado Railroads' contributing photographer John Hill. He captured the Cheyenne Frontier Days Special high-stepping its way south through Weld County past Nunn and toward Carr and Denver Union Station on July 20, 2017 at 11:08 in the morning, led by Union Pacific's famed 844. A class FEF-3, oil-fired 4-8-4, it has never officially been retired, and since the 1980s it has served as the railroad's primary public relations dynamo. I can't fault them for it. If I had a horse this beautiful, I would show it off each chance I got! ⚒

POTD - Autumn Aspens Aflame Over La Veta Pass

The cooler weather of last week calls to mind that autumn is approaching and with it, the fall colors returning to the high country. Now, aspens aflame may seem synonymous with a number of Colorado's railroads, but for some reason, I don't readily recall the San Luis & Rio Grande, or as it's known to most folks, the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad as a primary venue for autumn viewing.

Could this soon change? The RGSR is booking tickets for its Fall Colors Explorer. Their first class tickets are still available for $130 aboard a standard gauge, diesel service departing Alamosa and Fort Garland for La Veta Pass. While not the typical steam trip, it looks like those willing to part with the tidy sum will enjoy food, wine, and a memorable experience on board to go with their photos.

Photo of the Day: Michael F. Allen

Michael F. Allen took the above frame at La Veta Pass of SLRG 18 hauling a photo freight westward in the midst of some dazzling and brilliant aspen. While the framing and timing of the photo is just right, the tall, open gons and the tall, standard gauge engine make it stand out from so many narrow gauge steamers. The green jacket to the boiler looks sharp and defined, giving contrast to the the former LS&I 18. Had it been the standard black, it just wouldn't pop like it does. Truly worthy of Photo of the Day!⚒

Rio Grande 491 Struts Her Stuff Around Her New Home

A little bird (not Twitter) whispered in my ear that the restoration of 491 by the Colorado Railroad Museum has got someone's attention down in Durango. Could be that the museum will be doing some work on another K-37 Mikado very, very soon.

I hope so. I hope they run her as well as her sister, too. What day is today? Thursday. Would you believe that contributing photographer found her pulling a load of passengers in a gondola? To my delight and our mutual pleasure, it was too good for John to pass up!

All three photos: John Hill

Get on down there this weekend for Father's Day. Tell them it would make you happy to see your kids in the caboose! Well, it would. Wouldn't it?⚒

Denver & Rio Grande Steam Engine 168 Moves To New LIfe In Antonito

Shaking off over 75 years of sitting cold and drained in a park, Denver & Rio Grande steam engine 168 left Colorado Springs this week on a flatbed trailer for Antonito to be refurbished by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic for use on the 63 mile narrow gauge, heritage railroad. As announced back in April, the C&TS will lease the class T-12 locomotive for 45 years from the City of Colorado Springs, the owner, after receiving the locomotive from the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1929. This was twenty years after the passing of Gen. William J. Palmer, founder of both the D&RG in 1870 and Colorado Springs in 1871. No official word yet on when work will commence in Antonito.

More Regarding the Move

• Pictures of the move - Nathan Holmes' DRGW.net
• Hundreds Turn Out... Colorado Springs Gazette
• Engine 168 Making Way Back... Pueblo Chieftain
• Iconic Locomotive To Get New Life... KRDO
• Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Plans For 168

Special Request: Please take time to visit one or more of the links above, comment there, and share your interest with others on Twitter, Facebook, & Pintrest and other social media. Supporting this effort--even just "generating buzz" about it--is important for this and future projects to succeed!◊

D&RGW 3600 Locomotives

D&RGW 3600 LOCOMOTIVES

by Dave Straight and John Hill

3600’s. Mention that number series and those who follow the Denver and Rio Grande’s steam locomotive fleet will smile and fondly remember the 2-8-8-2 articulated giants, the world’s largest at their construction in 1927. Built by the American Locomotive Company, the first ten were class L131 numbered 3600 through 3609 and followed by class L132 numbered 3610 through 3619 built in 1930. 131,800 pounds of tractive effort, 63" diameter drive wheels, 26" x 32" cylinders and weighing in at 649,000 pounds. I remember being told that for every four scoops of coal into the firebox, one went straight up the smokestack.

Sadly all met with the scrapper's torch in 1955 and 1956, five in 1955, engines 3600, 3603, 3614, 3617 and 3618, the remainder in 1956 with none saved for posterity. Unfortunately, this was the same for all but one locomotive of the D&RG standard gauge steam fleet. 

Author Dave Straight met several engineers, hostlers and the like while out photographing the final days and hours of the great beasts. Here are a couple of anecdotes from the fellows he met as well as himself; 

“A hoghead named Alvie Powell, brought the first 3600 into Phippsburg, Colorado approximately in  1947. Alvie was an engineer who worked over the hill in the D&SL Days. He was quite a character, and he liked the 3600’s.”

“The last two 3600's under steam were: the 3609 and the 3619. Ironically the last 2 numbered engines in each class. Sadly enough, the last day they operated, was Oct. 27th,1956. They left Tabernash that afternoon. Joe Preiss and Flory Iacovetto, engineer and fireman respectively. Both were D&SL employees. Joe was a veteran from the days on the line over Corona/Rollins Pass." 

“About a week before their leaving Tabernash, A hostler let me up in the cab of the 3609."Just don't touch anything!" they told me. But I got to blow the whistle. I can't tell you how much of a charge I got out of that. Later on, we went over to a little diner across the highway. The cook had a little, black & white TV set on. It looked like a blizzard on Corona Pass! His rabbit ears antenna weren't much good. He started lamenting about those (censored) steam engines and how their steam generator "jacked up the reception." Plus the fact, some (censored) was blowing the whistle! Of course, needless to say I kept my mouth shut for a change. What a sight to see the 3609 pound out of Tabernash, tied to the tail of a Moffat Tunnel freight. ‘Twas quite a day.” 

“Another character said he had a 3600 running at 75MPH, that’s right, 75MPH between Flat and Troublesome. If you’re not familiar with those names they are between Kremmling and Parshall along the Colorado River. I leave this one for you the reader to decide but…”

Dave’s friend, retired D&RGW employee Gerry Decker, relates in a letter to Dave about his father Dean who was a D&RGW conductor. Gerry says,

I don’t have too many 3600 stories. Dean was on the first one west with tonnage. He said the road foreman got off after a few tunnels and rode the caboose to Bond. He told Dean at Bond that he wouldn’t have ridden through another tunnel if they gave him what it cost new at the factory! He referred to it as ‘a miserable S.O.B!’ ... Frank Woodruff was on one west and they stopped someplace east of Bond. Don’t remember where. Frank went to the headend and the Hogger was passed out drunk. Frank told the fireman, who was promoted, to run the engine and he refused so Frank sent the head brakeman to the rear end and Frank ran the engine into Bond. He said, ‘That S.O.B., never thanked me for saving his job or even bought me a cup of coffee!’ 

Dean always remarked how bad they smoked. The company issued the crews some old WW1 gas masks and he said they were useless! The best they could do was keep a box of packing waste and a bucket of water in the cab. They would grab a wad of waste, dip it in the water, and cover their faces in it while going thru the tunnel. Dean also carried a small mirror with him to help pick cinders out of his eyes. He said he could get a cinder in his eye by just looking at a picture of a 3600. ... Dean said that there was a practice in helper service for other engines to be ahead of a 3600 because they put out too much smoke and heat that would about kill the crews on the smaller engine. He said they tried that at first but that didn’t last too long.” 

Author Dave Straight’s attached photo of the 3600’s and a 3700 being towed to their demise brought forth his comment, “The sound of hissing air being sucked into and blown out of the cylinder cocks was a sad moment as I stood and watched them fade away.”

3607 at the Pueblo Coaling Tower on Feb 12, 1956 Dave Straight Photo

3619 near Fraser 10-20 1956 Dave Straight

3619 at Tabernash CO 10-20-1956 Dave Straight

 L 131 3609 at Tabernash Colorado  Sept 30, 1956 Dave Straight

3612 at Winter Park CO Sept 30, 1956 Dave Straight Photo

3609 at Winter Park CO Robert LeMessena Sept 1956 DPL-WHD Photo

3619 South of Tabernash CO  10-20-1956 Dave Straight Photo

3600 at Mitchell Curves with Train 35 on May 31 1941 R.H. Kindig, DL Straight Collection

3609 West of Malta CO with Train 33 with 71 Cars 3-24-1940 R.H. Kindig, DL Straight Collection

3606 and 1510 South of Littleton CO with 107 Cars 12-1-1940 R.H. Kindig, Dave Straight Collection

3612 at Tabernash Colorado Ready for Helper Service Sept 30, 1956, Dave Straight Photo

3602 at the West Portal of Tennessee Pass  3-24-1940 R.H.  Kindig  Photo Dave Straight Collection

Sadness On a Sunday Morning
L-131/2 class locomotives 3611, 3615, 3610, and L-105 class leader 3700 are pushed to their doom at the hands of a scrapper's torch. The culprit at the back is FT 5431 and 2 B-units on March 25, 1956 in Pueblo,CO. This is, to my knowledge, the last photograph of these steam engines, forever lost. Dave Straight Photo

"The sound of hissing air being sucked into and blown out of the cylinder cocks was a sad moment as I stood and watched them fade away."

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Editor's note: Dave and John both have my deep personal gratitude for their patience in letting me put this article together. Having to work with my errors and delays is something that few can work with and it speaks to their great fortitude and generosity. I look forward to writing about the 3600s and hopefully, I will be able to use their incredible photographs and collections in the future! - SRW, ed.◊

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Announces Lease To Fully Restore T-12 Engine 168

Colorado Springs City Council has approved a lease of D&RG 168 by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad for the purpose of full restoration to steam. It was initially proposed to the city in October and surprisingly--Nathan Holmes of DRGW.net called it "a rare moment of sanity and agreement"--they accepted. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic's eventual success in restoring D&RGW 463, one of two surviving Mudhens, probably influenced the council's decision.

Rio Grande 168 rests placidly under a thin blanket of snow on April 10, 2004.
Photo by Steve Walden*

The 168 is one of two surviving T-12 class narrow gauge ten-wheelers purchased by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1883 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. The Rio Grande, having spent the previous two years in a frenzy of expansion needed a number of new narrow gauge locomotives to service the new lines. The other surviving engine, 169, rests in Alamosa, 30 miles north of the eastern terminus of the C&TS at Antonito.

Only a year after her presentation on Aug 27, 1939 (DPL)

The city will lease the locomotive to the railroad for 3 consecutive 15 year terms. This is inclusive of the time to take it apart and fully restore all parts that have corroded or wasted in the 77 years since it last saw service. The locomotive last saw a full cosmetic restoration completed in 1984 and has received periodic upkeep. As it has occupied the same location for nearly 8 decades, the locomotive's static display predates most buildings downtown.

June 13, 1943 Same engine and city but can you spot
all that's changed in less than 4 years?
Both photos: Otto Perry (courtesy DPL)

Most of the buildings, that is, with the exception of the Colorado Springs D&RG Depot, located across the street from Antlers Park. The close proximity of two of the oldest artifacts of Colorado's most extensive railroad has often resulted in their pairing in presentation in promotional and tourism material. The depot had for years served as a restaurant until a change of ownership and subsequent mismanagement forced it to close in 2011.

It is one of the ideas that for many years I had dreamed might one day come about. Could the city that was founded by Gen. Palmer only a year after his "baby road" one day find a way to return to steaming operation a locomotive that had such a history and connection to the city? I once thought it impossible, considering the difficulties of other organizations and other cities. Now, ...who knows what's next?◊

* On a personal note, this was one of my first digital photographs since 1997.

POTD - Snowy Morning Down At the Depot

Photo of the Day: John West

It's a cold morning a few days before Christmas 1961 in Durango Colorado. With the snow from a few days before filling the narrow-gauge yard beside the Depot, a crew readies K-36 Mikado 488 and heads south into the low winter solstice sun. Photographer John West fills in the details.

A caboose hop leaves Durango headed for Farmington. It will pick up its train at Carbon Junction, where the cars were set out the prior evening by a train from Chama. The caboose, two loaded boxcars, two flats of farm tractors, and a MofW tank car are the only cars from a 50 car train that made it all the way into Durango, the balance were Aztec and Farmington cars that were set out at Carbon Junction. The MofW tank car had been used to fill cisterns at Ignacio and Lumberton on its eastbound trip to Chama two days before.

In just eight short years, all the locations from Chama to Durango listed above will see their last train as Rio Grande abandons the narrow gauge except the short but incredibly scenic--and lucrative--Silverton Branch. Antonito to Chama will be resurrected after a full year of abandonment by the states of Colorado and New Mexico and 488 now resides in Chama.

Note: John West also has his own photo site, NarrowGaugeMemories.com, in addition to his fine photographs at RailPictures.Net.◊

POTD - Deep In The San Juan Mountains

Photo of the Day: Adam Baker

Few photographs manage to capture how deep the San Juan Mountain range is, how extreme the differences in elevation can be between the lofty peaks and the valleys below. Adam Baker of Flickr managed just such a view when he and his friends were returning from a trek to climb Mt. Eolus. I have climbed enough to know that Eolus is a 14er that isn't for the novice or the faint of heart!◊