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Durango & Silverton gears up for 2013 Railfest
Perhaps the Durango and Silverton should follow the example of Northern Central Railway in Pennsylvania by ordering replicas of the 19th century 4-4-0 steam locomotives. Such engines would be authentic to the open platform cars as opposed to the 20th century consolidates.
I was at Railfest in 2011 and rode two photographer specials, the first of which was pulled by Eureka & Palisades No. 4, which is a restore 1875 wood burner — we stopped twice with passengers/photographers helping to load wood. Great time and came home with great digital photos/videos.
Mr.Vinson, the E&P No. 4 is far too small to pull the 8- to 11-car full-loaded trains the D&S gets. Our trip was one coach and a caboose and there were times we were slipping our wheels trying to get rolling again after some runby spots if they were on a grade.
Three weeks ago we were in New Freedom, Pa. to ride behind NCR’s No. 17. Got our tickets a week before, and were not told the engine was down. Got an email the day before saying it was unlikely our train would be pulled by the steamer. Had a 44-ton GE centercab instead. They’ve apparently been having trouble performing federal-mandated maintenance because bolts, etc. under the firebox were too tight to be removed for the work. It was parked on a spur with a hole dug under the ties so men could work underneath. Nice loco, but appeared the operation wasn’t ready for the work the engine will require.
From what I could tell from visiting both, the D&S and its well-maintained vintage steamers is a better operation in my book. NCR will get better with experience, and while the type of replica loco they have on what appeared to be a gentle grade can handle the 2-3 car trains it pulls, it would never handle D&S longer, heavier trains on grades of up to 4 percent I believe is present on parts of the D&S.
D&RGW stands for Denver & Rio Grande Western, not Denver, Rio Grande and Western. Just letting you know.
D&RGW 315 gave a great show for the weekend. Two photo specials with 4 run bys, and three short runs out to the new events park. 3 passenger cars and a concession car.
http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/Railfest%202013/Railfest2013-78_zps6d1464c6.jpg