Does anyone out there knows how Colorado's
Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge RR is doing nowadays, since its sale
by Charles Bradshaw to what I've been told is more of an amusement
company than a bona fide railroad agency? Haven't been able to ride it
since 1997, and am wondering if all the apprehension I heard about the
new ownership has been borne out or not. Would appreciate any comments!

Dick Ikenberry

ri51425@alltel.net

In general things are fine. Ridership continues in the neighborhood of 205,000 a year. The Railfairs are giving heritage/preservation a higher profile at the line than before. The current owners, Great American Heritage Railways, have recently also purchased the Great Smokey Mountains operation in North Carolina and are pursuing a number of preservation-friendly initiatives there as well.

In sum: D&S's owners know that they are in the entertainment business, competing for the discretionary entertainment dollar, but operations have not been any more Disneyfied than before under Mr. B

eledbetter@rypn.org

I second Erik's comments. D&S and Strasburg are two very well managed tourist railroads who have chosen not to improve history to any great extent but to make it accessible and friendly to tourists. User friendly tourist railroads lead to more public interest in the technology which can only benefit our interpretive programs.

More museum and tourist lines might do well to consider the impressions made on their audiences by the presentations they provide. If the equipment is ratty, dirty and uncomfortable and the ride rough and dead slow through not particularly pleasant scenery, it can be detrimental in the long run.

We can find ways to show ourselves off in our best light without being untrue to our history with a little time and effort, and the use of fresh eyes.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

If you aren't able to ride on any given day, strongly urge you stick around for the walking roundhouse/shop tour. For the princely sum of $5, you are given a guided walking tour of the back shop, roundhouse, car shop, etc after the last morning departure.

Nothing is off limits and photographs of any and everything is welcomed.

Truly amazing experience for me. Talk about turning back the clock 50 years. Not a diesel to be found anywhere -- I was half expecting a special agent to tap me on the shoulder and ask what I was doing!

Regards,
Burlington John


Burlington Route Historical Society
cbqjohn@hotmail.com

I was there this last fall and I believe that the roundhouse tours are no longer being offered. That is the down side. The up side it part of the roudhouse has been turned into a museum. There is at least one locomotive in there and you can go out the front and watch the locomotives being turned on the turntable. It opens around 7:30 in the morning or so and closes about 7:30 at night. I have some shots of K-28 #473 coming out of a stall and being prepared for service but I do not have the capability of scaning slides.
As for changes since Mr. B owned the railroad, I did not notice any ones I would consider detrimental. The locomotives look the same as they have for the past few years. It is still worth the visit, but (IMHO) Chama is the true place to go.

Brandon

bhthompson@earthlink.net

Many thanks to all of you for responding! So great to hear that D&S is doing so well, and makes me eager to get back there for "recharging"!

Thanks again!

Dick

ri51425@alltel.net

The other month it was reported on the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum that the D&S was laying off more people this winter than in previous years. Concern was expressed that this may be short sighted as it may prevent the usual amount of winter maintenance to the equipment and the road from being done.

Brian Norden

bnorden@gateway.net

A hearty "hear hear" to Erik's comments. The new owner is MUCH more interested in the line's history than Mr. Bradshaw was. (Mr. Bradshaw apparently came to have a deep and abiding dislike of the D&RGW during his multi-year negotiations to acquire the line.)

American Heritage Railways has been willing to paint equipment with the "Rio Grande" logo on a temporary basis, something Bradshaw would never do. They've set up historic displays in Silverton as well as Durango.

If anything, they are less "Disney-fied" than the Bradshaw days.

While you're out there, Dick, drop by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic railroad in Chama, NM or Antonito, CO. We'll show you a REAL narrow gauge railroad . . .

JAC

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

> If the equipment is ratty, dirty and
> uncomfortable and the ride rough and dead
> slow through not particularly pleasant
> scenery, it can be detrimental in the long
> run.

As we do tourist railroad feasibility and consulting, sometimes we need to tell people that their project will not work. Often we can be more tactful and say that it just will not work the way they have planned it. Quite often we find a good project hidden under emotion and local enthusiasm.

These groups if left to their own unfortunately sometimes produce the slow ride through East Boredom, which Phoebe Snow would not have been caught dead riding on.

We should applaud the operations which do leave a positive impression which the visitor. We all need to look hard at our own operations and ask what can we do better.

Stone Consulting & Design
garylandrio@stoneconsulting.com