Day 9 Tuesday May 14: Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad The Track, Cars and Structures


While the sign below indicates "for trainmen only" there may be some of you non-train viewers that might be interested in this section.

Door on Crew Bunk Car

Thomas paid close attention to the railroad details and his mind was trying to figure out how we could incorporate some aspects on our HO scale layout.

Here are a couple of maintenance areas:

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A variety of rail cars could be seen on sidings along the route as well as at the rail yard in Silverton. The weathering on these old cars is an inspiration to us model railroaders who try to get our new model cars to look like them.

The DSNGRR is working diligently to refurbish and preserve these cars. The following photos show 2 sets of boxcars, in photo 1, the cars have not been restored, in photo 2, they have been restored:

The "Galloping Goose" was one of the more unusual cars. It was used to carry maintenance crews to work sites and the Company Bigwigs would ride it to survey the railroad. In some instances, people could pay a fare and get a ride to another town.

We enjoyed the little "Scooter" work cars that spend all day checking track conditions and making necessary repairs:

There were also some interesting structures along the way. Wouldn't this old mine be fun to scratch build? Go for it Greg Fisher!

Or maybe the Silverton Depot:

Or how about this wooden water tower? The train uses metal towers now, but I personally like the old look - so much for efficiency!

I have numerous bridge photos: these are my favorites:

I thought the detail on this flat bridge approach would be of interest. The smaller inner rails help support the train on track to help prevent derailments.

And finally some possible accent pieces for a layout:

Even the stuff in the trash piles by the track looked good!

Needless to say we are both inspired and ready to get going on our layout when we get back to Indiana. Tom and I hope you've enjoyed this small sample of our DSNGRR trip. We both highly recommend this outing if you are planning a trip out west; we'd like to do it again ourselves, maybe in the fall next time.

      You can check out their website at: www.durangotrain.com

or call 1-888-train-07 (872-4607).

We'll also be glad to answer any

questions or do a program for your train group. Please contact us through Tom's email at tjduffy43@yahoo.com.