One Last Coal Fired Cab Ride on The Durango and Silverton

Рет қаралды 4,538

3 ай бұрын

We join Jon and John (⁠‪@JaiahHazelnutBrown‬) as we venture into the seemingly impenetrable Animas River Canyon on what will be our final trip in the cab on the Durango and Silverton’s mainline rails with a coal fire in the heart of the beast. We start in Durango at the depot where trains have left from here since 1881 and move past the Strater Hotel (filming locale for the ‘El Tovar’ lobby in ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ serious, look it up). We roll over the Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, the River of Los Souls. We’re behind historic, vintage ALCO diesel 103 from the White Pass and Yukon (“actually it’s a ‘Montreal Locomotive Works’ or an “MLW” there Diehl”… I don’t care, we’re calling it an Alco)
We climb the hill at Hermosa and venture into the canyon below the snowy slopes of Purgatory Ski Resort.
Featuring a cameo from ⁠‪@YardLimit‬ (bruh, Diehl, that’s just the Durango “Yard Limit” sign, that’s not the famed videographer…)

Пікірлер: 26

@davidgrisez 2 ай бұрын

This is an interesting train ride. It also the closing of an era for the Durango and Silverton Railroad burning coal in its steam locomotives. The 416 Fire in that area changed things. Because the climate in the area is becoming more dry, it was necessary for the Durango and Silverton railroad to convert its steam locomotives from burning coal to burning oil to reduce the fire hazard of its locomotives starting line side fires.

@micksavage 3 ай бұрын

This is an historic video, many thanks for capturing the event. I am so pleased to have have ridden on the D & S in the old coal fired days.

@jamespercival3111 3 ай бұрын

I think it was the fireman who carried the steam whistle back through the train for us to see after the nipple attaching it to the boiler rusted in two on the way back to Durango from Silverton. While we were in Silverton, we could see steam leaking out of the hole in the nipple which, on the way back, finally gave way.

@YardLimit 3 ай бұрын

Glad you got to do this! Thanks for the cameo, too!

@wolfgangpfeilergartenbahnd6530 3 ай бұрын

A fantastic video from the cab of a coal-fired steam locomotive. ⚒⚒ Simply excellently filmed. Thanks for showing and best regards from Germany

@FJX2000_Productions 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for capturing such an awesome video about the 481 as a cold burner! I got to fire this engine many times over the years as a fireman and loved the memories of getting to work on the D&S! Would have been neat to get back there more recently to see it myself but that’s what your videos are for 😉 great work 🤘

@davidrubin8228 Ай бұрын

Thanks very much. I would have loved to have ridden behind a coal fired engine on the D&S but times are changing and this is one change that a higher power is in charge of.

@Tedroy 2 ай бұрын

Those Pullman cars are beautiful. Nice train ya got there.

@GabrielTruesdale 3 ай бұрын

But they're still have coal burning steam trains at the Strasburg railroad which is located in Pennsylvania, and my favorite route of New Mexico and Colorado is the Cumbres and Toltec scenic Railroad which they still have a coal burning even though they take precautions and it is still safe.

@Big_Diehl 3 ай бұрын

It’s only safe some of the time, they definitely start fires, including one lineside that I had to help extinguish because the fire patrol was nowhere, or even possibly not operating.

@doughuffman5790 2 ай бұрын

Fireman shoveling coal, does he not change hands? When I shove and toss snow, a lot of it, I change hands regularly to even out the strain.

@douglas7046 3 ай бұрын

The general running speed seems a little faster than I remember seeing; is that due to the assist from that beautiful ALCO or is this standard running? Great job!

@Big_Diehl 2 ай бұрын

Light train and overpowered with the Alco made a quick run up the hill.

@mikewalker4134 2 ай бұрын

I have ridden the D S R R many times in the past 15 years. Never seen a Diesel loco coupled with a steam loco before. Reason?

@Big_Diehl 2 ай бұрын

Fire danger… high winds and a lack of snow before this cold front had actually made it very flammable outside. Hence the reason the Cumbres and Toltec and the D&S are converting to oil.

@kmsbismarck1937 2 ай бұрын

Are they converting the k31 or scraping it

@Big_Diehl 2 ай бұрын

Of course it’s another conversion thankfully, so it can run year-round in this dry environment

@Nkp757railfan 3 ай бұрын

What was the purpose of the diesel on this trip?

@andrewschannel4259 3 ай бұрын

To help 481 pull the train up the hills.

@Big_Diehl 3 ай бұрын

@Nkp757railfan fire danger

@norrisnutsrailfan100 3 ай бұрын

How is The Engineer of 481 running with NO GLOVES????

@JaiahHazelnutBrown 3 ай бұрын

I’ve been doing that for like 16 years, I hate wearing gloves.

@fwsauerteig 3 ай бұрын

I am against the oil conversion. But the enemies of the Durango and Silverton had the upper hand.

@Big_Diehl 3 ай бұрын

You mean nature and drying out of the landscape?

@JaiahHazelnutBrown 3 ай бұрын

Would have happened anyway, and probably should have been done a good decade earlier, but fortunately the right people were in charge when the conversions were designed and implemented.

@chooch1764 3 ай бұрын

@fesaueryeig 😂