(The Durango Herald posted the following story by Tom Sluis on its website on March 23.)
DURANGO, Colo. — Don’t be fooled by the scant number of trains running on Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks.
Back at the depot, inside the round house, the railroad is a flurry of activity as workers prepare for the peak summer season.
Huge steam engines are up on blocks; the 2-inch-thick steel wheels pulled off for repairs.
Boilers are disassembled for inspections. Cabins are being rebuilt. From inside the cavernous beasts, workers weld away, sending sparks cascading in every direction. It’s a cacophony of hammers banging away amid the soot and grease as voices yell above the din.
“Now is the only time we have to do the major repairs,” said Steve Jackson, the railroad’s chief mechanical officer, while surveying the activity.
He points to a nearby 87-ton General Electric diesel engine. “This one is getting a new air-brake system,” he said.
A worker is welding a railing to the side of the engine. “The railing is not required, but it’s safer to have one,” Jackson said.
Each year, major overhauls are done on the seven steam locomotives, 44 passengers cars and 12 freight cars. This year, the railroad is also fixing up five diesel engines.
He thought he would have six months to get the first diesel – Hot Shot 1 – up and running. Because of the fire, “It turned out we had six days. It was a little bit of a crash course,” he said.
Each type of engine has its advantages and disadvantages, he said.
When a steam engine has a problem, mechanics need only about 10 minutes to diagnose it “and about 10 days to fix it,” he said.
For the diesels, the times are reversed.
Most of the parts are made in-house. Workers are crossed-trained in a variety of skills.
“Even after 30 years, you don’t know it all,” Jackson said. “Nothing is ever the same.”
Railroads once had apprentice programs for machinists and boilermakers. Apprentices would eventually work their way up to the journeyman level.
“We don’t have the luxury of doing that today,” Jackson said. “We expect employees to basically hit the floor running.”
A graduate from Purdue with a degree in mechanical engineering once took at job with the railroad’s sister railroad in North Carolina. But it was a rare hire, he said. Most workers just have an interest in mechanics or have a good background in electrical work.
Scott Shewmake, car shop foreman, said every winter, 48 passengers cars are brought in and the wheels pulled off for maintenance. Oak planks are stacked high in the wood shop. For what can’t be built or ordered: “We just go to Kroeger’s,” he said.
The Federal Railroad Administration oversees repairs. Every 15 years, a steam engine’s boiler must be disassembled and serviced.
To get ready for the summer, crews are also working outside the roundhouse. They repair track and clear brush along the right of way to reduce the chance the train will spark a fire.
“It’s so much more involved than the average person realizes,” said Paul Schranck, vice president and general manger of the railroad.
He is optimistic the summer will not be a repeat of last year, when the Missionary Ridge Fire shut down the train for 34 days.
“It is our full hope that with adequate precipitation we will be able to run steam,” he said.
The costs to recover from the fires have been exorbitant, said Kristi Nelson Cohen, vice president of sales and marketing. Beyond the loss of revenue, the railroad bought the diesel engines and has invested at least $600,000 in fire mitigation efforts, she said.
The railroad has 85 full-time employees during the winter and about 150 during peak summer months.
To get passengers aboard, the railroad’s marketing is aimed at families and is promoting the company’s cultural and heritage values. The railroad is also advertising the train jointly with groups such as the Durango Area Tourism Office. The advertising partnership saves money while selling Durango as more than just a place to get a train ride.
Tourists’ interest is still high in the train, Schranck said. “We’re booking reservations 10 months out,” he said.