"The Railroader" - Lessons learned from a lifetime of working on a historic American West railroad

National Geographic Society ^ | January 25, 2019 | National Geographic Short Films

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds interesting.

[evaporation-plus]

Saw that short film last evening. Started to check for airports this morning. Denver or Albuquerque, ahhh just dreaming.

[CedarDave]

I can’t recall any “McDonald’s, condos or ski slopes” on the D&S. Heck, there’s hardly room for the train in many places.

Yes and no. McDonald's on the other side of the station in Durango, Condos all along the flat stretch before the highway 550 crossing at Hermosa, and now at Rockwood. The Purgatory Ski area is to the west and maybe not seen from the train. After Rockwood to Silverton there are none of these, but there is a wilderness camp with zip-lines crossing over the tracks.

[CedarDave]

The list of movies filmed on the RR can be found here:

Filming Location Matching "Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Chama, New Mexico, USA" (Sorted by Release Date Ascending)

[Portcall24]

Different from when I was there in the 1990’s.

[CedarDave]

The big difference is the ballast. Until recent years, the track was mainly on native material (gravel, sand, mud) and rotting ties, and subject to washouts. Except for the lack of welded rail, the railroad has a very smooth ride, much more so than its neighbor, the Durango and Silverton and other short lines.

Bush was wrong when he said everything is done as it was in the past. The RR has some equipment used to align track and place ballast. Rotted ties are still replaced by hand as shown. When you’re spending all day on the train, rough track is a turn-off and, with trip reviews on line, can affect future ridership.

[Hot Tabasco]

My aunt gave me an obituary of my great grandfather who I knew nothing about. He died in 1937 at the age of 93.

Originally from Ontario, Canada, he worked in the logging industry during his younger years in northern Michigan till he had an unfortunate accident. He was hit by a runaway railroad flat car that crushed his leg and it had to be amputated. No hospitals around there at the time so it was done on his kitchen table......

[Portcall24]

Thanks for the update.

[1Old Pro]

a beautiful girl was pressed against me but that is another story.

You dog you

[yarddog]

It was actually embarrassing.