Topic: Railfan
Last month I took four days off to travel to Durango, Colorado, for the annual Railfest. It has been several years since I attended this event. Last year the Eureka 4-4-0 was not able to appear for Railfest and I did not want to miss its' return this year. Another piece of equipment which has been making an appearance at every Railfest is the RGS goose which was restored to operating condition by a group of volunteers in Delores, Colorado. The Eureka and the Rio Grande Southern goose number 5 are a pairing not to be missed. My available time and financial resources meant I could not participate in all of the events, but if the weather would cooperate I would be able to get new photos in digital format. The last time I had been to Railfest digital photography was very young and I was still photographing with slide film. You can see it has indeed been a few years since my previous Railfests.
Living in Grand Canyon makes for an even shorter trip to Durango than when I was living in Denver. Highway 160 provides a pretty straight shot to Durango from just outside the Grand Canyon. Traveling Hwy 160 also meant I would get another chance to see the Black Mesa Railroad. This unique electric railroad transports coal from the Black Mesa coal mine to a power plant just outside Page, Arizona. 
The highway and the railroad run alongside each other for several miles through the wide open spaces west of Kayenta. I had traveled the same route last year on my return from the Fall Photographers' Special on the Durango & Silverton. A road closure and detour on another trip earlier in that year accidentally had given me my first encounter with a portion of this route. However, on neither of these occasions had I seen anything but empty track. Maybe it would be different this time? The Colorado bound leg of this trip was just as fruitless. According to my on-line research trains make the round trip between the mine and power plant three times a day. Certainly, I would see some action during my return trip to the Grand Canyon! So on my westbound lap I lingered around the loadout sight; stopped midway to get a closer look at a road crossing and the right-of-way; but the rails were empty again. This railroad has been more elusive to railfan than I anticipated. It is uncertain when, if ever, I will have another chance to see Black Mesa trains.
Thursday was a beautiful day as I headed for Durango. But August is the monsoon season in the Southwest and I arrived at the tracks of the DSNG just ahead of the rain. What was even more unfortunate, the clouds still had not parted on Friday morning. Not optimal weather for picture taking. But it at least it was not raining as it had on the Photographers' Special last September. My ride for this day would to be on the Eureka from Durango to Silverton. First stop was at Rockwood for taking on wood. This is a wood-burner after all and the Eureka burns plenty of wood. We would stop twice later for water. Rockwood was also the place for us to wait for the second tourist train of the day to pass. The scheduled DSNG locomotives are much bigger and faster than the little Eureka. The DSNG train did make a brief flag stop in Rockwood to take on a family of backpackers. Trains will stop to pick up and drop off people headed into the backcountry. The train provides the only access to this roadless, rugged area.
With the passage of the DSNG train we reboarded our train and resumed the trip to Silverton. North of Rockwood (more properly "west" in the days of Rio Grande operations) our small consist ventured out onto the precipitous High Line. More money was spent blasting a narrow ledge out of the 500 foot high cliff above the Las Animas River than on construction of all the rest of the line between Durango and Silverton. Beyond the High Line the tracks descend to cross the Las Animas on the High Bridge. Which is not very high but it is the highest bridge on the route. Here we stopped for our first run-by. This is also where the Rio Grande Southern goose would catch up with us so we could photograph both pieces of equipment crossing the bridge. The goose is a most novel contraption devised in the shops of the Rio Grande Southern during the Great Depression. One of the few reliable sources of revenue during that time was a government contract to carry the mail. However, the mail and other limited freight was insufficient to profitably operate a steam train. The RGS answer was to create rail motorcars to carry the small amount of cargo and occasional passengers.
As we proceeded up the line toward our Silverton destination we made a few more stops for photo run-bys, replenishing our water supply, and for meets in the afternoon for DSNG trains returning from Silverton to Durango. At one point it became a little uncertain if we were going to get to Silverton at all. The steepest part of the line required a lot of power and therefore steam from the little locomotive. We stopped to let the steam pressure rebuild. The problem occurred when they attempted to resume our trip. An earlier rain shower had made the track a little wet and slippery. We backed up to sand the track, but the wheels still slipped and we were just a little further from Silverton than before. More sanding, more slipping, without any forward progress. Some of the steam we stopped to replenish now had to be released so the application of power to the wheels could be just a little more gentle to avoid the wheels slipping. Finally, slowly we began to move forward again.
Now we faced a problem of a different sort, at least for those of us wishing to make a photographic record of our trip. The Animas River canyon is very narrow and deep. The sun was beginning to sink below the high peaks causing the large sections of the canyon to pass into shade. Persistent clouds only made the situation more disappointing. Time to put the camera away and just enjoy the ride. My timing for my ride on the RGS goose the next afternoon made for the repeat of this problem. Whenever I again go to Railfest if I cannot do the roundtrips and must do only one-ways I will choose the rides from Silverton to Durango. That will allow me to get some better photos in the upper part of the canyon.
Sunday morning dawned with the beautiful sunny skies I had been wishing for. My rides on the Eureka and the goose were past, but I took some time before my departure for Grand Canyon to photograph the morning train out of Durango. Not so exotic as the goose or the Eureka perhaps, but narrow guage steam is still a great photographic subject. I followed the train as far as the Highline and then had to leave the beautiful San Juan mountains. I would have to be back to work at Grand Canyon the next day. A photo album of my Railfest trip can be found on the Augusta Stationmaster web site.
The Grand Canyon Railroad has seen fit to fire up its' steam locomotive over the Labor Day weekend for a few short hops out of Williams. Alas! No steam train will make it as far as the Grand Canyon. It is difficult to believe I have less than three weeks remaining at the Grand Canyon before returning to Death Valley for the winter. The older you get the faster time seems to go by. I promise myself this winter I will make more trips from Death Valley railfanning and fewer trips to Las Vegas.
