Excursions

D&SNG: NOT LOSING STEAM Next generation of engines keeps history in mind

by John Peel

COAL, DIESEL, OIL. Does it really matter what powers the engines that run the 140-year-old rail line between Durango and Silverton?

If you’re astounded that somebody would ask that question, then your answer is undoubtedly an emphatic “yes!” As it turns out, you’d be in the majority, according to polls that the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has been taking that show 75 percent of its riders think it matters.

What’s happening behind the scenes as the tourist train adapts its fleet to meet 21st-century conditions is of interest to many. Historical, practical, environmental, and other factors all have a say as the railroad, wary of being shut down due to fire danger, turns to diesel engines and converts its steam engines to burn oil instead of coal.

D&SNG Vice President and General Manager Jeff Johnson began working the line 40 years ago, so he understands and appreciates what makes it unique. Any change is scrutinized mightily, by train management, employees, and rail aficionados alike.

Coal cinders blown from the train stack have the capacity to start a fire under certain conditions. Diesel and oil have no such exhaust, making the risk of starting a fire minimal.

In 2020, the D&SNG arranged to purchase four diesel engines from another historic line, the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, which runs between Skagway, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Unlike previous diesel engines the D&SNG had operated, which had limited towing capacity, the WP&YR diesels were built for mountain travel and can power longer trains with up to 10 cars. Diesel engine No. 107 worked daily between Durango and Silverton during the 2021 summer season. “It fit like a glove on our line,” Johnson marveled of the 107, a DL535 class built by Alco-Montreal Locomotive Works in 1969. The three other diesels are in varying stages of preparedness. * * *

The diesel engines, actually less expensive to operate and maintain than steam engines, are just a stopgap measure. D&SNG surveys showed that three-fourths of its patrons prefer the classic steam-engine train experience.

“We’re glad,” Johnson said of that response. “We would have been more disappointed if they didn’t care, because that’s who we feel we are, too.”

The D&SNG is converting most of its steam-powered engines from coal burning to oil burning. Some dyed-in-thewool train buffs might argue that this detracts from the authenticity, and D&SNG officials are sensitive to that.

It’s a conversion that railroads have been making for more than a century, Johnson explained, but one the D&SNG never undertook because coal was readily available and the process is expensive and time-consuming. Each conversion costs between $100,000 and $200,000, he said. As of this fall, four of its 10 steam engines have undergone the coal-tooil conversion.

Coal-burning engines will continue to operate only in the winter with snow cover, Johnson said, and may eventually be phased out entirely. But steam itself won’t go away.

“We have to appreciate that our brand, who we are, is still the steam locomotive.”

Anthony D'Amato