Join us as we spend the winter of 2024 on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad with its final coal-burning steam locomotive, the 481. This 1925-built Baldwin graduate of the Eddystone Pennsylvania factory outside of Philadelphia is the sole remaining dirt burner on the famed Silverton branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western. This Mikado-type locomotive, one of the largest narrow gauge locomotives of its kind has been plying the rails out of Durango for nearly a “century of steam” (see what we did there). Anyways, while there's no Hyce here,. As always, we start in Durango at the century-old depot at the corner of 5th and Main. We'll follow the famed railroad immortalized by C.W. McCall as we chase the 481 from the roundhouse onto the turntable across Camino Del Rio, through the Hermosa Valley, and up the grueling Hermosa Hill to Rockwood where we duck into the Cañon of the Rio de Las Animas Perdias. We cling to the cliff in the Rocky Mountains high above the un-runable river beyond the High Line. We'll cross the high bridge at Tacoma and go deep into the canyon under the snowy slopes of Purgatory Ski Area (the yin to the yang of Telluride? Or is it Shawn White's Silverton Mountain?), where we find ourselves at Cement Wall, Tank Creek, Cascade Canyon, and Tefft before we leave this video for part two... Yes, there's a part two. Why? This one's already nearly half an hour long and we have still more footage, so you'll have to tune in to the next one to see the other thrilling conclusion (you made three parts? There's barely any, if at all repeating footage BTW.
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 (though as I write this, I'm out of the United States and off to Six Flags Fiesta in San Antonio Texas in the morning), 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).