Coal Smoke and Tin Feathers: The LAST Coal Burner in Durango and The Galloping Goose
And then, there was one…
If you'd like to check out the 'Caboose Ride Through the Rockies': • Caboose Ride Through T...
By winter 2021 into 2022, the roster of serviceable coal-burning steam locomotives on Durango and Silverton dwindled to one, K-36 # 481. This 1925 Baldwin-built Mikado is now alone, as K-28 478 and sister K-36 #486 as of the publishing of this video were still residing in the Durango Roundhouse Museum awaiting their 15-year inspections and probable conversion in the face of the current megadrought, climate change, and trouble with coal supplies in the region.
In February of 2022, 481 headed up the railroad’s annual winter photo spectacular with a mixed train consisting of a couple 3000 series boxcars, and a 6500 series fishbelly loaded with rail. After those, we find another 3000 series boxcar, # 3278, converted by the Cumbres and Toltec to Box Coach # 206 in the early 1970s. This car came to the Durango and Silverton in 2019 with 3 other Box Coaches from the Cumbres and Toltec for 4 of The Silverton’s unmodified 3000 series boxes. These cars were acquired to be positioned along the line to help get people out of the Animas Canyon if a need arose and a train could not be quickly dispatched from Durango. Following the freight cars, we find a lineup of San Juan Express varnish resplendent in Grande Gold. Railway post office # 64, now a concession car, leads coaches # 319, # 323, and # 327. Bringing up the markers on the rear is long Caboose 0540. In addition to the 481, we are also joined by Rio Grande Southern “Galloping Goose” # 5 from the Galloping Goose Historical Society of neighboring Dolores following close behind
Join us as we take two days in the Animas Canyon with the last coal smoke in the valley and the tin feathers flying behind it. Since this is a two-day event, we’ll condense and rearrange this trip into a single out-and-back trip to Goblin Fire underneath the picturesque Needle Mountains of the San Juan Range. To check out some more from this journey, check out our earlier video, ‘Caboose Ride Through the Rockies’ where we take a look out the back of caboose 0540 for a scenic ride down the Animas River Canyon.
Yes, THAT number on THAT Cab is blurred...But it's 42-1=... Pay no attention to the stuff behind the curtain. It's KNOTT'S for you to see, BERRY funny what I did there, that's the kinda humor they enjoy on the FARM. (Hmm, Knott's Berry Farm 41?). So join me as we depart YardLimit on this journey looking for that Distant Signal so we're not Delayed In Block..., oh, never mind, I'm not on my normal route, so there's no signals on the D&RGW Narrow Gauge. We're down along the Animas River in the Silvery San Juan Mountains below Chicago Basin and Purgatory Ski Area near Cascade Falls/ Cascade Canyon and Electra Lake.
0:05 Introduction and Background
2:51 Mini High Line
5:03 Rockwood Cut
5:51 High Line
8:32 Tacoma High Bridge
11:03 Ahh! Wilderness Guest Ranch
13:25 Cement Wall
16:02 Tefft
17:59 Goblin Fire
19:50 Bubbling Rock
26:25 Tefft Crossing
29:19 Journey Back
29:51 Gladle's Gap
31:27 Horseshoe Curve
Пікірлер: 56
I miss the smell of the older trains, this video took me way back in simpler times 😊thank you.
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it
@user-uc9tj5uh8x
8 ай бұрын
А еще его гудок🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 он неплвторим😊
Fantastic coverage of this event! Glad I could make a small quote for the production.
The wonderful sights, sounds and SMELL of coal fired steam working!
Fantastic footage as always! The RR has handled this transition remarkably, and deserves praise for it. I had multiple conversations with staff members when I visited this past summer. They are dedicated, concerned folks; exactly who we need to be running this operation. It's just too risky to burn coal, and I hope other railroads follow suit. We're very fortunate to have alternative fuel sources so that these time-honored traditions can keep occurring!
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for the Kudos!
@zebrashark23
11 ай бұрын
It's not "risky". that's a lie.
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
@zebrashark23, you must not live in the Southwest, we’ve been in a drought the last quarter century. We’ve gone from a wet spring this year to so dry in a month we’ve had fires popping up as the monsoon season has been quite lackluster. Even the Cumbres and Toltec is preparing for the future with oil burners… Even with the modified front ends on their locomotives they’re required again to wear the stack caps to trap errant cinders.
@andrewreynolds4949
10 ай бұрын
@@zebrashark23 The risk seems to be greater from lawsuits over fires than the fires themselves. Court cases like they've had not that long ago are really draining on funding
@gretchenchadwick8343
10 ай бұрын
My special needs son recommends torrefied biomass instead of oil 🛢.
Excellent video, great the steam trains and the Galloping Goose rides. Fantastic combination of railway and landscape, it's one of my favorite videos of the narrow gauge railways. Thanks for showing and best regards from Germany.
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
Thanks Wolfgang!
Very nice work Bill! Glad I stumbled in.
An amazing video!
Great views with Needles in background. Highly recommend checking settings to ensrure 4K quality. It is worth it. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing...espeially on 100 plus het effect day..Goig to run this again in the layout room with coal smoke from a mikado filing the air.
Probably the end of an era spanning since the railroads beginnings in 1881 as Coal becomes rare and the possibility of the Railroad’s Private coal mine closing, let’s just say I’m gonna miss coal fired steam on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad I know that one thing will never change is hearing that D&RGW 5 chime whistle on number 481 probably my favorite sounding D&RGW whistle besides D&RGW custom three chime on number 473 and the C&S Lukenheimer 3 chime whistle on number 476 are by far the best of the best I have ever heard
@gretchenchadwick8343
10 ай бұрын
My son recommends torrefied biomass instead of oil 🛢.
@trenesdecolombiaPabloHiguita
8 ай бұрын
@@gretchenchadwick8343 doesn't give the required heat
@gretchenchadwick8343
8 ай бұрын
@@trenesdecolombiaPabloHiguita alright then thank you for your reply God bless you 🙏🗡🛡🕯💎👑🤴🦅🔥🕊🥀🐑🐏🦁👼😇✡✝️ John 3:16
2:03 Oh so that's where RGS 41 went lol
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
Sshh... You didn't see anything... LOL
Hey I hear D&SNG is planning to convert 478 to an oil burner and return her to service in about 2-3 years once work begins (in early 2024). Not only that, but after the 2023-2024 winter season, 481’s being converted to an oil burner as well!
@Big_Diehl
9 ай бұрын
Yes, the ‘78 is getting its fuel changed as part of an overhaul. I was at the grand imperial in Silverton when it was announced.
@RioGrande486
9 ай бұрын
@@Big_Diehl Nice! The Grand Imperial is a fine hotel.
Why did you censor RGS 41's tender?
@Big_Diehl
8 ай бұрын
There was a long running joke that it wasn’t there…
I rode the Narrow Gauge, back when it was all steam. Glad I got to do that. Won't be the same with an oil burner.
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
It’s all steam the rest of the year… Other than that, it’s still the same, except no cinders in the eye, which is always a plus!
Say hi to Zeph👍
Will you film the 2102 next month?
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
Unless I get a sugar momma to pay my lost earnings from my job -and fly me across the continent… no.
Fabulous. What are tin feathers?
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
We’re referring to the Galloping Goose. Since a real goose would have feathers, and this is metal… Tin Feathers
@curlew1000
11 ай бұрын
Thank you.
Ah, so I see 41’s cab has been censored…how odd.
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
There’s no 41 in Durango… it’s obviously not there… 😉😉😉
Would be nice if cleaner coal would be used
@Big_Diehl
5 ай бұрын
It’s not the emissions from the stack that’s the biggest problem. The leftover ash is highly toxic and just can’t be disposed of like before. Plus there’s the cinder problem which is gonna cause trouble regardless of how clean it is.
What a wonderful sight. I hope they never convert her to oil.
@Apollo580
8 ай бұрын
They are going to eventually. Embrace that change now
@Big_Diehl
5 ай бұрын
The conversion to oil is days away now.
@matthewpowell2429
5 ай бұрын
@@Big_Diehl So sad. Well, I guess there are still ones on static display as coal burners.
Maybe they will keep 486 or 478 a coal burner just for training of firemen purposes along with 481
@matthewesler8379
11 ай бұрын
The would be good idea to skills alive
I love that these engines are still around but im sad they are converting them to oil for phony reasons
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
Hardly a phony reason… it’s too dry here anymore, and the problems getting the fuel.
@dylanjames554
11 ай бұрын
55,000 burned acres of forest amid continuous droughts and rising temperatures are not "phony reasons". The railroad has done a good thing and we should be grateful that they continue these operations.
@1TruNub
11 ай бұрын
@dylanjames554 It is a phony reason because it was never proved whether The d&s cause the fire or not
@zebrashark23
11 ай бұрын
They are indeed phony reasons. There is plenty of coal and oil burners can start fires too. The operator of the D&S is only concerned about one thing and it starts with an "M". He couldn't give a damn about history or rail fans. I would never spend one cent on the D&S.
@Big_Diehl
11 ай бұрын
@zebrashark23, but the Cumbres’ oil burners are perfectly ok?
Unfortunately, 481 will be converted to oil firing in 2024.
@Big_Diehl
8 ай бұрын
Don’t know why that’s unfortunate that it can now run year round and doesn’t require a special fuel.
My special needs son recommends instead of converting the engines to oil 🛢 they should look into something called torrefied biomass.
Way too much whistle blowing! Can't hear anything else. Otherwise it's a great video. I have begun to hate whistles. I like to hear the steam locomotive working.
@jimmyhook4852
10 ай бұрын
Hey, I get that you don't like whistles.... but you must know this: Aside from amounts of the steam locomotive, whistle blowing is just as important because it lets those know when a train is coming. After all.... it's important you know. :/