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Cinders & Smoke Mile by mile guide for the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge
Cinders and Smoke by Doris Osterwald Soft Cover 1986 152 Pages Mile by mile guide for the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge trip THIRTEETH printing 1980
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SILVERTON
The train in which you will ride is a relic of earlier days. It is not a "tourist trap" but a somewhat nostalgic means of transportation from one place to another-and back again. Although operated primarily for visitors, schedules are rigidly maintained to the minute. The present Durango-Silverton schedule is similar to those used in the early 1900's, although more convenient departure times from Durango are possible now that it is no longer necessary to make connections with other trains. The return schedule from Silverton varies only by minutes from those of earlier days. The first train still bears the same number in official D&RGW timetables - No. 461 to Silverton and No. 462 to Durango -that it did at least as early as 1904. The second train is No. 463 to Silverton and No. 464 to Durango. Officially The Silverton is still a mixed train, but freight is now carried in two boxcars painted -Rio Grande Gold" to match the coaches. The present total running time is less than in the old schedules because very little freight is now carried, and fewer and shorter stops are made en route.
The Silverton is operated with a kind of formal informality. Operating rules are as rigidly adhered to as on any standard gauge main-line road, as shown by the classification flags or lights on the locomotive and the marker lights carefully hung on the rear coach by the trainmen each morning. (Photo page 77). These flags and lights are not mere decorations - to railroaders they have definite meanings. For example, the locomotive of a regularly scheduled train with no following second section carries no flags or lighted lamps. The locomotive of the first section of a two section train will carry green classification flags or lights, but the locomotive of the second section carries no flags or lights. The locomotive of an extra (or unscheduled) train, several of which depart from the Durango depot each season, will carry white flags or lights. Marker lights on the rear cars indicate that the assembled equipment is a legal train with operating rights, and tell a trackside observer that the train has not broken in two. In spite of this adherence to rules, informal stops are made to let off or pick up fishermen, campers, hikers, or mountain climbers and their equipment at places of their own choosing. Travelers who rode The Silverton in the early 1950's or before will miss one touch of informality, however. The traditional Silverton caboose, with the conductors' over-sized coffee pot, was taken off the train as a safety measure.
Motorists arriving in Durango in the late afternoon or evening may become aware of The Silverton as train No. 462 or 464 whistles loud and clear for crossings of the Durango streets after a downhill run along the Animas River. A whistle is not just a noisemaker; it gives definite signals by the engineer of movements the train is about to make. In general, these signals announce starting, stopping, backing up, and approaching a grade crossing or station. The most common whistle signals are given on the inside back cover.
The car in which you will ride may have been built as early as 1878, or it may have been built in 1964 to earlier specifications. Interiors of the older cars look very much as they did in the 1880's, except that carpeting has been replaced with linoleum and overstuffed seats replaced with bus seats from the Denver Tramway Corp., so that more passengers can be carried. Coal stoves are still used to heat the cars on cool, rainy days.
The engine of your train probably will be one of the three remaining 470-Series, Class K-28, 2-8-2 (mikados), built in 1923 by the American Locomotive Co. For those of you who are non-railroaders, steam locomotives are classified according to their wheel arrangement. A 2-8-2 engine has a 2-wheel pilot truck, 8 drive wheels, and a 2-wheel trailing truck under the cab. A close look at the engine while it is standing at the station will reveal several unusual features. The smoke stack carries a metal shroud made to resemble a diamond stack of the 1880's, much to the disgust of dyed-in-the-wool railroad fans. These shrouds were added to the engines in 1956 for a movie, along with the fake coal-oil headlights and wooden pilots ( "Cowcatchers") which were later removed. When delivered in 1923, the K-28 engines had a straight stack, to which a cap-shaped cinder catcher was later added. The front of the engine ( the smoke box) is adorned by an odd-shaped collection of machinery and pipes called a compound air pump ( Photo, p. 44) which is hung along the running boards of most steam locomotives. The pump provides compressed air to operate brakes on the entire train and other equipment on the engine. The front of the engine also contains a door used for cleaning the inside of the smoke box. Probably the most interesting feature of the last three classes of steam locomotives operated by the Rio Grande is the running gear ( wheel assembly). A look under the running board of the engine reveals that the drive wheels are actually inside the frame of the engine. The axles extend through the frame, and the counterweights, which are integral parts of the wheels on most steam locomotives, are attached to the outside ends of the axles. The side and piston rods are connected to these external counterweights ( Photo, p. 74 ). Just watch all that flailing machinery while the engine is moving slowly!
Coupled behind the locomotive is a tender that carries 8 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water. For those who are not old enough to remember such things, coal and water are the ingredients that make the engine go. The fireman, who sits on the left-hand side of the engine, shovels coal from the tender into the firebox through a large door in the center of the cab. Water is pumped from the tender into the boiler where burning coal in the firebox heats the water to make steam. This steam expands in the cylinders ( located low on each side of the engine near the front) to push the pistons which are connected to the wheels by means of the rods. After all this, the wheels finally start to turn!
Take a quick look at the track, too. Not only do the rails look small compared to modern main-line railroads, they are closer together. The rails weigh a minimum of 65 pounds per yard - compared to the 100 pounds or more on main line roads. ( See p. 79 and profile, p. 81.) The distance between the rails, the gauge, is only 3 feet instead of the 4 feet 8% inches on standard gauge lines. These 65 pound rails, small as they are, would seem large compared to the 30 and 40 pound rails that were first laid in 1881-2. Today's sawed ties, even though shorter for narrow gauge use than standard gauge ties, would seem quite sophisticated if they were compared with the untreated rough hewn ties of the 80's. The turnouts (track switches) in use today are different than the original ones. Today's turnouts consist of fixed running rails with a pair of knife-shaped tapered points that can be moved from one side to the other between the rails. The old type, called stub turnouts, consisted merely of a mechanism to move the running rails themselves from one position to the other. A stub turnout, with its old-style harp-type switch stand, could be seen from the train at the Elk Park wye for many years but was removed by 1973.
Just before the train leaves the station, you may notice a railroad employee on a motor car start up the track ahead of the train. His job is to see if any washouts or rock slides occurred since No. 462 or No. 464 came down last night. Another man on a motor car will follow the train to protect the rear end, put out any fires started by sparks from the engine or by cigarettes absent-mindedly dropped from the train, and to serve as a means of communication should a breakdown occur.
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