richhotrain BATMAN mobilman44 Sadly, I didn't get any pics cause I was too busy, and my co-pilot was too scared............. It's okay MM44. I was right behind you and got some pic's of you and the wife. In all seriousness, I can't wait to start exploring more of North America and traveling in general. I have been in more States than I haven't and I really like hearing about trips like these. It helps with the planning. I can't get past this photo. It makes my hands sweat. What if the horse were to get spooked? Suppose there is a rock slide up ahead? How do you turn that buggy around? Yikes. This photo gives me nightmares. Rich
BATMAN mobilman44 Sadly, I didn't get any pics cause I was too busy, and my co-pilot was too scared............. It's okay MM44. I was right behind you and got some pic's of you and the wife. In all seriousness, I can't wait to start exploring more of North America and traveling in general. I have been in more States than I haven't and I really like hearing about trips like these. It helps with the planning.
mobilman44 Sadly, I didn't get any pics cause I was too busy, and my co-pilot was too scared.............
It's okay MM44. I was right behind you and got some pic's of you and the wife.
In all seriousness, I can't wait to start exploring more of North America and traveling in general. I have been in more States than I haven't and I really like hearing about trips like these. It helps with the planning.
I can't get past this photo. It makes my hands sweat.
What if the horse were to get spooked?
Suppose there is a rock slide up ahead?
How do you turn that buggy around?
Yikes.
This photo gives me nightmares.
Rich
Rich, although the Million Dollar Highway is wide enough now for two buses to pass each other, this is how the road is now! There are no guard rails and it's a long ways down to the Uncompahgre River! Some people on the bus needed to change seats with their travel companions as they lost interest in their window seats during this part of the trip! We were seated towards the cliff side of the road, I didn't feel this helped much!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
I've been on the Silverton twice-'97 and 02. Bothtimes I was with my dad, and got one of the - 480 seriEs. I've been on the chama one as well. I loved both. I've been to cass,Durango,Chama,Golden,steamtown,Orbisonia,Washingtonpatrolleymuseu
Baltimore, and a few others. But I want to eventually go back to colorado
Theyre rebuilding the Silverton northern!
,
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
richhotrainI can't get past this photo. It makes my hands sweat. What if the horse were to get spooked? Suppose there is a rock slide up ahead? How do you turn that buggy around? Yikes. This photo gives me nightmares. Rich
Oh yeah! Think that's bad, Rich? If you take the trail out of Ouray to the west to Camp Bird, the trail is actually cut into the side of the gulch, totally overhanging. Then there's the old mine building teetering above the trail between St. Elmo and Hancock on the east side approach to Alpine Tunnel. Looks like it will cut loose any second, but it's been that way since I first started off-roading in CO in the mid-70s. On the west side are the Palisades. First time we went up there, I stopped on the trail because it was completely engulfed in the clouds for some time and I wanted to peek over the edge to see what I could see. Looked down...then the clouds parted briefly so that I could see the valley floor far, far below...then it was gone...very spooky.
You have to drive watching the road. The same first trip, a college buddy of mine who was along was just freaking out as we went across Engineer Pass, up above Animas Forks. We'd been driving all week in CO and he should've been used to things by now. We were going east to west across it, so I was on the inside of what is a long shelf road far above the treeline, he was on the outside. I was watching the road, no problem. It wasn't until years later when I came back across Engineer the opposite side that the view, err, became more obvious...that's why you watch the road.
But don't feel bad, Rich. I've got another friend, a now-retired political science professor. He and his wife took Highway 550 and he, well, wasn't quite ready for that. It end up with him getting in the floorboards of the car so he couldn't see out. So if you're floorboard-hugging scared, you're not the only one.
I'll be glad to hand out directions and advice on the best E-ticket rides American highways can offer. Yes, most of these roads aren't even technically "off road" as that's illegal on a lot of ground. They're actually county roads, which see "regular maintenance" such as can be accomplished with bulldozer, grader, and the occassional startegically placed culvert. You can easily travel the same roads that brought the prospectors and then, in some case, the railroad.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Jimmy_Braum Theyre rebuilding the Silverton northern!
Who has more facts about this? I should think the tracks would link with the Durango and Silverton; but, where will they start laying track and what will be the destination for the Silverton Northern work being done?
The shops for the Silverton Northern are near the D&S station at Silverton. Last I was there a month or so ago, the shop has been totally rebuilt and looks great. There was a totally rebuilt 4 wheel bobber caboose in front, very nice and brand new looking. I have pics here somewhere (looking around lost!). But yes, they are trying to rebuild it:
http://www.silvertonnorthern.com/
http://www.sanjuancountyhistoricalsociety.org/silverton-northern-railroad.html
Regards,
Eric
Yeah, 2011 imagery won't show it. They just started laying track a few weeks ago. While the SN enginehouse houses the SN caboose #1005 and the Durango Historical Society's Rio Grande 2-8-0 #315, the track is being laid on the northeast edge of town near the old powerplant toward Eureka. There are some pics on Fritz Klinke's pic page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53177163@N00/with/15523789012
I cant quite figure out what exactly they plan regarding the shop and the new tracks they want to lay up to Howardsville. Do you know if they will follow cement street up from the shop? The website says they plan on a new station and shop at start of new tracks (northeast of town). If the shop is disconnected, seems like a major pain...
-E-C-Mills I cant quite figure out what exactly they plan regarding the shop and the new tracks they want to lay up to Howardsville. Do you know if they will follow cement street up from the shop? The website says they plan on a new station and shop at start of new tracks (northeast of town). If the shop is disconnected, seems like a major pain...
There's a complex story there and I'm not sure we even have all of it yet. Part of the reason is that they were working on this when the owner of the D&S, Mr. Bradshaw, died about a year ago.
The issue with connecting the shop to the SN right of way would be the need to cross the D&S. Doing that -- a crossing at grade between two different RRs -- apparrently would invoke all kinds of federal requirements that would burden both RRs. Attractive as such a scene could be to fans and tourists, for now it's just easier to not mix the two RRs in that way. A grade separated crossing just wouldn't be right in my mind, but if there's no other solution and the money was somehow there, I could see the SN lowering its grade to pass under the D&S.
For now, the SN starts near Fritz's print shop and property up by the old powerplant. The county board has already granted a 99-year lease on at least the first part of the old ROW. There has been building, some earthmoving connected to mine reclamation, and some utility and other encroachment, as no one figured the RR would ever need the ROW back. Most of this is in Silverton or as you near it. Once further out of town, the grade is mostly still usuable -- I've driven much of it.
They're hoping to have the first mile-and-a-half up and running in the near future, possibly using a 3' gauge railcar built by a local resident who owns a model RR kit company, Anvil Mountain Models (good stuff!).
Thank you guys that is some really interesting information you've provided. My love for narrow gauge is peaking and I'm almost considering selling off my Standarg Gage equipment tearing down my present layout and starting over with a small narrow gage modular layout that could be hauled from my basement, should the need arise. I also wonder about the wisdom of doing all that at the age of 64!
NP2626 Thank you guys that is some really interesting information you've provided. My love for narrow gauge is peaking and I'm almost considering selling off my Standarg Gage equipment tearing down my present layout and starting over with a small narrow gage modular layout that could be hauled from my basement, should the need arise. I also wonder about the wisdom of doing all that at the age of 64!
Alton Junction
mlehman, you have a PM from me.
Mike: Ahh I didnt think about crossing regulations, hmm. Also, looking at the airial view, the crossing at that point would be real close to where the D&S parks the engines while in town. Thanks for the info.
NP: Looks like the narrow gauge bug has bitten! Mountains; steam; there is just some kind of charm in mountain railroading, ...
-E-C-MillsMike: Ahh I didnt think about crossing regulations, hmm. Also, looking at the airial view, the crossing at that point would be real close to where the D&S parks the engines while in town. Thanks for the info.
Yeah, and there's not much alternative to a crossing there and the complications it would entail. They can't go to the east, closer to the river, by crossing by turning to cross the D&S tracks on the north end of the depot. Still a crossing and they'd be too much in the floodplain, I suspect, for comfort. They can't circle out to the westside of town, as that's all uphill and certainly nowhere near the prototype ROWs. So the crossing just south of the "in town" spurs is always going to be the goal, if possible at all. I'm failrly certain it will eventually come to pass, but decades from now when the new SNRR is on solid ground with most other things.
Missed the quote...
richhotrain NP2626 Thank you guys that is some really interesting information you've provided. My love for narrow gauge is peaking and I'm almost considering selling off my Standarg Gage equipment tearing down my present layout and starting over with a small narrow gage modular layout that could be hauled from my basement, should the need arise. I also wonder about the wisdom of doing all that at the age of 64! Shame on you for even thinking that. It is never too late to start a new layout. Go for it, do it. Rich
Shame on you for even thinking that. It is never too late to start a new layout. Go for it, do it.
Rich, I'm heavily into three hobbies: R/C airplanes, R/C sailboats and Model Rairoading, Then I also spend most of my summers sailing my 27 foot Mirgae sailboat on Leech Lake here in Northern Minnesota and also like to traval! So, even if I live to 100, the amount of free time I can devote to a new project like this is fairly limited. So excuse me for thinking I may not have time to start over with a railroad. However, I am thinking about this!
NP2626 My love for narrow gauge is peaking and I'm almost considering selling off my Standarg Gage equipment tearing down my present layout and starting over with a small narrow gage modular layout that could be hauled from my basement, should the need arise. I also wonder about the wisdom of doing all that at the age of 64!
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I did the D&S last year as part of my bucket list tour. I crossed 5 items off the list. I live in Ohio and had a niece graduating from college in the Phoenix area and her brother graduating from high school. My brother was throwing a joint party for the two of them so I decided to drive out. #1 was to drive a significant portion of the old Route 66 highway. I wish I could have done it in a 62 Corvette ala the 1960s TV series, but my Miata was a decent subsitute. I picked up the highway just west of St. Louis and drove as far as Williams, AZ.
From Williams I rode the Grand Canyon Railroad to the South Rim where I spent parts of two days before taking the return train back to Williams, crossing off item #2 in the process. Whatever you have heard about the Grand Canyon, words cannot do it justice. You have to see it. It should be on everyone's bucket list.
I drove down to Phoenix for the graduation party, then took off for item #3, Four Corners. I did all the goofy stuff folks do at that geographical oddity, which almost proved to be my undoing.
From there I headed to Durango for item #4, riding the D&S. When I got to Durango, I discovered my wallet was missing. I guessed correctly that I had lost it at Four Corners, probably while spread eagling with a hand or foot in four different states at one time. Fortunately my room was prepaid and I had kept some emergency cash seperate from my wallet. I called the credit card company and asked them to send a replacement to my next stop, my old home town of Omaha that I was going to visit for only the second time since our family moved away in 1966. The ride to Silverton and back was magnificent. Got lots of great pictures. Silverton itself is a real tourist trap. $9 for a hot dog and a Coke. It was a good hot dog, but it wasn't a $9 hot dog.
After returning to Durango, I headed east over the Continental Divide. I calculated that I had enough cash to pay for food and gas for the trip to Omaha but not a motel room. I was about 3/4 of the way up the west slope of the Rockies when my car began to stall out. Not sure what the problem was but I turned off the engine and let it rest. I restarted and went about a half mile before stalling out again. I did that about 6 times going about a quarter to a half mile before having to stop for about five minutes. I finally limped over the Divide in Black Wolf Pass, about 12,000 feet and rested the car again. Once I got going downhill all was good. Once I got to the bottom of the east slope, I pulled into the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express and slept in my car.
Next day, I headed into Kansas. At Dodge City I turned north toward Nebraska. A few miles out of town I blew a tire. Now I'm really up the creek. After putting on the temp spare, I had to drive back into Dodge City because apparently that area is so desolate there is no cell phone coverage. Just lots of wind farms. I placed an emergency call to the credit card company to see if there was any way I could get an approval to buy a new tire. The lady on the line was very nice but after checking with her supervisors, she said without a card in my possesion there was nothing they could do. She then told me she spoke to her brother who was a mechanic and he told her if I didn't go over 50 mph, I could probably go 500 miles on that spare. Out of options, I decided to give it a go. I kept it at 50 mph most of the way, getting numerous one fingered salutes on the two lane highway from Kansas into Nebraska. When I got to I-80 I was feeling confident and cranked it up to 60 mph. I managed to make it to the Travel Lodge in Omaha where I was booked with $9 in my pocket and a near empty gas tank. Fortunately, my replacement credit card was there waiting for me and I was back in business.
After spending a few days in the old home town, I took off for item #5, the farm in Dyersville, IA where the movie Field of Dreams was shot. I grossly misjudged the travel time from Omaha and had a little trouble finding the place. I got there about 20 minutes before they closed for the day. The ballfield has been maintained but since this was the end of May, the corn was only about 6 inches high. Still, it was a pretty cool place.
I hadn't intended to turn this post into a travelogue when I started, but I just got carried away. Bottom line, if you haven't done it yet, go see the Grand Canyon and ride the Durango and Silverton. If the other items interest you as well, by all means go do them. Life is short. Enjoy the ride.
That was excellent Bob. Thanks for posting. For someone wanting to make a steam excursion as a destination where does the D&S rank. It just looks awsome.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
The removed post that was here, was taken from another thread started by someone else about the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge RR. It was out of context and made no sense here in this thread, so I removed it.
jecorbitt, it sounds like you had an interesting trip, albeit a little more exciting than I would like!
Someone must have complained about the two off topic posts here in this thread about credit cards and Antivirus programs. Gosh, I thought these threads were just sort of off handed conversations between friends! I guess some pretty petty stuff happens on Internet Forums!
So, as I have stated in a few posts above and in the other thread I have started looking into building a narrow gauge layout in Sn3. I have also been looking my present layout over and have determined that what I have is pretty much like a narrow gauge line, I have just used standard gauge and because I have a deep interest in the Northern Pacific, that is the line I have modeled. I will freely admit that John Allen was some of the inspiration for my layout. I love trestles, bridges, tunnels and perching the railroad on some shear cliffs. I find these dramtic effects to my liking. Although the equipment on my layout is N.P. there really is no basis in reality for what I've modeled.
I started with an American Flyer train set when I was 6-7 years old. I got into HO around 10 and have been very happy with HO, over the past 25 years I've been building this layout. Maybe it's time for a change, maybe it isn't. We shall see!
The last time I checked your thread, that's what I saw, the anti virus messages. So I posted this new one.
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Mark,
Back when I started in HO around 51/52, 9-10 age, John Allen's layouts also gave me the bug. It was logging layouts though and I just loved the scenery part. I bet I had every logging kit that Suydam made when My paper route money was rolling in, LOL. I hated collection day, the people that were the first to complain, were the one's that wouldn't answer their door on that day. I built a small logging layout in our basement and then started to migrate to loving trucks, so along came the narrow winding roads.
Mountain driving and scenery in my opinion is best viewed from the seat of a cabover tractor trailer. Ask My Son's they will attest to that. My son Pete, He's 40 now, when He went with me to CA from Chgo,( My normal run) when we got in the mountains, like Donner's pass, Cabbage 6 3/4% grade up/down, He would sit on the dog house, cause when He looked out the window, all He could see was down. We do live in a Beautiful country, too bad a lot of people never leave the block.
Nuff! Rambling.
Take Care!
Frank
zstripeWe do live in a Beautiful country, too bad a lot of people never leave the block.
I agree except for me it applies to the whole planet.
If it weren't for being awestruck at the ability of railroads all over the world to punch lines through once thought "impregnable mountain ranges", I think my interest in MRR would be a little less enthusiastic.
Boy do I agree with you BATMAN, mountain railroading is what gets me going!
All the locos and rolling stock are pretty much form all over on my layout. But mostly, I like any road that worked or works through mountains. Caboose and loco need not match. And speakinng of global, here is some mountain railroading that is pretty unreal in my book!
Where were these photos taken EC? I agree those are pretty dramatic scenes!
Certainly Silverton owes a large portion of it's yearly income to the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. However, I wonder how much of Durango's annual income is generated by the D.&S. N.G. R..R?
Durango has a population just under 17,000. There is a ski area close by (we stayed there). The town is the largest town near Mesa Verde National Park. There is a collage there and the area is a huge outdoor recreation area. The D&RGW RR started the town and as well as it having been an engine service facility to the D&RGW's narrow gauge, it was also an end terminal for the Rio Grande Sothern Narrow Gauge, when that line was in operation. My guess is that mining for gold and silver might still play a part in the towns income.
I found Durango to be a very active place with traffic problems during rush hour similar to larger metro areas. If I lived there, I would own a Jeep as back country four wheelings would be high on my list of things to do there.
-E-C-Mills,
Now those are some really fantastic shots. Thanks for sharing!
Boy I wonder what the grade is in that fourth shot. Could just be the camera angle, but if you look behind along the left side of the canyon it sure seems to drop fast. Great pic's. Thanks.
Edit: I blew it up a bit and noticed a tunnel portal in the distance. It appears the track on the left goes there.
I've had the luck to have attended two National Narrow Gauge Conventions in the area, the first in Denver in 2003 and the second in Durango in 2006. Went with two friends both times, and each time we took trips on the D&S and the Cumbres & Toltec too.
In 2006 I had an early Kodak digital camera that also took video, and I shot some on the D&S. Wasn't the greatest for video, would not keep focus when zooming, and the zooming was jerky. But I was pleased with the overall scenes I took.
I put the videos on YouTube, will supply links here if anyone is interested. We took the trip to Silverton, and also drove there too, to see the site with more time. The first video was shot on an overcast day with light rain falling, but we were able to seek shelter in the former station across from the original one. Here you'll see the two train shuffling around the town:
http://youtu.be/3thomY6Yd6Y
On the last day of the convention in Durango I picked up my photo contest entries and was pleased to find my black and white photo took first place in the model contest. With the win, I got two tickets for the special afternoon double header train to Silverton. But since there were three of us we couldn't take the trip, and we'd already been on it earlier in the week. Couldn't find anyone to give the tickets to, so they are a part of my souvenirs of the trip. We chose to follow the train and take photos along the way.
The lead engine left Durango separately, and waited for the rest of the train in Hermosa Springs. My video shows the train leaving, and arriving in Hermosa Springs and coupling to the lead engine. Hear the whistle echoing through the hills as the double header leaves on its journey:
http://youtu.be/y31i6T1byVQ
I also shot some video of another train leaving Durango, and a brief bit on the operating "Galloping Goose" railtruck in Rigeway - the protoype of the Bachmann On30 model: http://youtu.be/WGdq3KJ9CDw
Keep in mind I was also shooting digital still photos with the same camera, and alternated between video and stills most of the time. It was a trip of a lifetime!