Camera Report

Written for the Winter 2012 Edition of The Dispatch

Day 5 dawned just as perfect as the previous 4 had. With the three Firetide nodes working perfectly in the Lab, I labeled everything for easy installation later that fall. Then Joe and I re-boxed everything and cleaned up the Bunkhouse.

Joe spent part of the morning running PVC under the boardwalk along the south side of the Depot. This was no easy task! Once he finished John help us get the pipe into the Depot in what was once the freight storage area. The walls back there are adorned with LOTS of graffiti from the railroaders. Some of it is more than a century old. Very cool!

I need to mention that the lunches served by the ladies in the Cook Car are fantastic! KUDOS!

Please let me know if you find mistakes - RioGrandeDude  @ SmittysHouse.net

489 departs with Train 216

UTLX 12739 with one

set of new trucks

The Friends work cars being repainted

The other set of trucks was changed the following week

The new tool car

Looking west towards Durango

The new tool car

Inside the new tool car

Train 215 arrives

By noon most of the Friends had departed and the yard was a ghost town. Only a few tourists and Friends staff members remained. I hung around a while longer to finish a few odds and ends then said my goodbyes, shook some hands, and mounted up for the trip over to Durango for my first ride up the Silverton Branch on the Cinco Animas.

When I arrived in Durango, I stopped to see the Emma Sweeney. She was recently moved from California to the park where the 315 once stood (between Durango Yard and Carbon Junction). The locomotive is a wooden prop used for the movie "A Ticket to Tomahawk."

Emma Sweeney on display in Durango.

The Durango Railroad Historical Society is working to restore this one-of-kind movie prop. The DRHS is responsible for restoring the 315 to service, so Emma Sweeney should be a cake-walk!