And Then There Were None: The Final Winter of Coal on The Durango and Silverton (Part Two)

Join us as we partake in the second section of our farewell to coal power on USA Today’s choice for America’s Most Scenic Railroad, the famed Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad as we take to the rails alongside, behind, and in the cab of K-36 #481, a 1925 built Baldwin Steam locomotive from the factory in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. With the ever-changing landscape due to climate change drying out the forests of southwestern Colorado, the same drying that forced the 'Anasazi', now known as the Ancestral Puebloans (an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado) from their lofty perches at what's now Mesa Verde National Park nearly a thousand years ago and towards more constant forms of water in locations such as the Sandia and Acoma Sky City along the waters of the Rio Grande, the D&SNG is forced to adapt as well, eschewing the cinder throwing coal burning for the oil burning that reduces the potential of setting the landscape ablaze. We'll start at Goblin Fire, a panoramic view of the lofty Needle Mountains of the San Juan Range in the Weminuche Wilderness and the backpacking destination of the Chicago Basin. From there we'll ride along the Animas River to Tefft, just inside the canyon below the Purgatory Flats of, well, Purgatory Ski Area. We ride ahead of the freight section on the platform of Railway Post Office car 64 as we skirt the High Line and take in the World Famous Horseshoe Curve (can you think of one that's photographed with trains more? There's not...). We then hop in the cab at the Rockwood Cut just like Sundance in 'Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid' though this time, invited, and ride back to Durango with Jon and Nick. We watch as Jon the engineer guides this century-old machine towards Durango and Nick fires the beast with coal, one shovel at a time. We follow the Rio de Las Animas Perdidas to the old Victorian city and the railyard where we catch the 481 being serviced for the next day's run to the winter wonderland of Cascade Canyon.

Why the demise of coal, it's a multitude of factors. # 1 is the fire danger. Colorado is really a desert with pine trees, it's not uncommon to find prickly pear cacti growing along much of this railroad. The pine forests, once adapted to healthy fires haven't seen one in ages and one spark can send it all up. 2, ease of procuring fuel. Recycled Waste Oil is much easier and cheaper than getting coal from mines that don't even really want to deal with selling to small customers such as the Durango and Silverton, Cumbres & Toltec, Nevada Northern in Ely, etc...

So, don't bother looking for that Distant Signal, because we're not Delayed In the Block, as there's no Signals on this railroad. No Signals means we're not gonna have to worry about any Coasterfan's here, but they're all welcome out here on these trips. We'll have some Yard Limit, but that's just part of the operating system out here (keep an eye out for him, he leaves those V=shaped signs about).
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