We travel once again back to 2022 now as we revisit our Sections and Doubleheaders video, this time with narration to explain a little more as to what's going on. If you don't want to hear the narration, check out our original edit, available here: • Sections and Double He...
Join us as we take a trip to Durango Colorado, follow and soar aloft, and catch the famed Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad... Once a far-flung part of the vast Denver and Rio Grande Western narrow gauge network (now part of the Union Pacific empire by way of the Southern Pacific merger), a network that once spaced from Denver to Salt Lake City / Ogden Utah as far south to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Meanwhile, across the Continental Divide from Durango, the other remaining portion of the narrow gauge, the Cumbres and Toltec operate as a tourist hauler as well, using much of the same style of equipment that Durango uses.
These trips featured the trains running in sections due to the United States Forest Service requiring the railroad to suspend operations in the face of extreme conditions due to the ongoing climate change induced mega-drought here on the Colorado Plateau. With the trains running in sections, the timetable scheduled train is broken into two or more sections, with the trains carrying green flags letting those trackside and on other trains that there is another to follow. Still with the train split, demand was high in June and the 463 ran with a doubleheader on the point.
We'll see a double-headed train 463, The Second Silverton Train leaves the Durango Yards with not one, but TWO ALCO (American Locomotive Company) K-28's with a fully loaded train on the 15th Street Bridge, a sight unseen since the late1990's as the bridge was re-analyzed to find it can support the weight of a mix of two Durango locomotives. We'll chase along the Hermosa Valley and catch it up to Rockwood where the locomotives are split to avoid a weight limit on the High Bridge near Tacoma. As this train was waving the green flags, we'll find a second section led by one of the larger K-36 locomotives pulling a pure train of golden coaches, a long staple of the railroad until the first class cars were painted in maroon and dotted the end of every train to head for Silverton. Next, the Cascade Canyon Express, pulled by K-36 No. 480 pulls another load of excited tourists to the railroad's halfway point at Cascade Creek, far in the canyon below the popular ski area, Purgatory (at Durango Mountain Resort).
We then jump ahead to Cataract Falls, a seasonal landmark just south of Silverton and Baker's Park. Then various scenes on and above the Animas River and Cement Creek before flying south to catch the trains headed home to Durango. Along the way, we'll catch train 464 and its second section making their way off the High Line and find another day with the 464 being pulled alone by 473 past Shalona Lake. Finally, we'll end with our last look as K-36 480 heads for the end as it leaps over Hermosa Creek.
''Go Not Gently Redux' by Jason Shaw, audionautix.com.
For those who want to, because they don't like the music choices pulled from above and the KZfaq library, you can always listen to "The Silverton"/"Silverton Train" by C.W. McCall on an endless loop... if that kinda thing is your bag... Baby. We'll catch the trains leaving the Durango YardLimit, er Yard Limits. We won't be Delayed In Block as there's no Distant Signal to look out for here since the narrow gauge was unsignaled. Enjoy this non-Cumbres and Toltec Video... Wait, we do a lot that isn't the C&TS? We already do too many D&SNG? And the whole C.W. McCall reference is tired and unoriginal? More narration, too much? Is anyone reading this? Yes, there's music... No, it's too bad you're hurt over it.