Shunting Ideas Around: Thoughts on the Durango & Silverton Diesel Purchase (& Concerns of the End of Steam)
Welcome back to Shunting Ideas Around, the editorial series of The Occasional Express. I apologize for the long delay since the last post.
Unfortunately since The Occasional Express is a 1 person operation ("big" surprise I'm sure) real life has gotten in the way of researching and writing articles, especially with complications regarding COVID-19. I'm not sure when I will be able to write regularly again, as the foreseeable future looks to have a very depressing mood with preservation groups and heritage railways struggling to make ends meet during the global pandemic. (If you can, please consider donating to your local museum or heritage railway)
I'll try to keep things positive here, and want to encourage everyone to follow the professional news sources if I'm not able to post here. And remember we will get through this.
All right, onto the topic of this post. Usually with The Occasional Express, if a story's already been covered by the professionals (ex: Trains Magazine) I usually don't talk about it on here. However, a discussion has come up around this news I do want to discuss. In case you were unaware, allow me to summarize.
The White Pass & Yukon Railroad, a 3 foot narrow gauge tourist line in Alaska, announced this year that they are replacing their aging fleet of diesels with new ones. The original locomotives were built from 1969 to 1971 by the Montreal Locomotive Works as members of the DL535C class, according to Trains Magazine. (You can read their article about the recent news here).
The new locomotives are more powerful than their predecessors, and will be able to handle trains by themselves, according to the CBC, whereas the older locos had to double head to haul the heavy trains. The order was added onto one being placed for an Australian Railroad company. You can read the CBC's article for more details here.
When the news broke in a rail preservation discussion group I'm in, speculation about the fate of the historic diesels was rampant. Would they possibly be bought by the newly reopening East Broad Top? Was there any hope at all for them, or would they end up being scrapped?
Recently the fate of some of the diesels was disclosed. On April 15th, The Durango Herald announced that the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad were purchasing four DL535C locomotives. The first two, No.'s 101 and 107 are already en route to Colorado, according to Trains Magazine.
When I saw the news, I was excited, and shared the Durango Herald article in the aforementioned preservation group. Unfortunately, things turned a little negative.
One of the concerns I saw in the group was that the D&S would slowly stop using steam locomotives, which I initially scoffed at. However, with some reflection, I understand the concern. Steam locomotives are expensive to maintain, so if you were given the option of using a much cheaper alternative, why wouldn't you? It happened with the large railroad companies when steam ended, and has happened in preservation. The first example that comes to mind is the Snowdon Mountain Railway (which is not a criticism, mind you, just an example, though they do still use steam on special occasions).
However, I do not believe that the D&S is going to end steam operations any time soon. Especially after they recently finished converting No. 493 to burn oil to decrease the chances of fires accidentally being started; which has been a concern for the D&S in the past, in particular with the now infamous Fire 416 which the railroad (allegedly) started by accident. I'm not going to delve into that here, but you can read about it online if you are interested. If you want to read about their plan to convert their fleet to oil burning, you can read about it on their website's blog here.
Another big factor I believe that will keep the steam locomotives running is the tourist draw. While one person stated otherwise in the discussion, I personally feel that the steam power is a drawing factor for tourists, in particular rail enthusiasts. To see locomotives running on the same track that they were built for is pretty rare and special, especially for narrow gauge. It's a tradition that I doubt the D&S is going to want to give up.
To end on a positive, here's how I look at the situation: 4 historic diesel locomotives have found a new lease on life. To me, that's a positive, and in these uncertain times, let's celebrate that, and not worry about if the D&S will end running steam locos. Plenty of lines operate diesels and steam (look at the UK for example). I look forward to following this story, and in particular seeing what liveries the engines will carry, as I doubt the White Pass & Yukon would appreciate their old engines carrying their iconic yellow and green livery.
Perhaps the D&S will paint them to look like the standard gauge Denver & Rio Grande diesels, which would fit the D&S' heritage (the Denver & Rio Grande began as a 3 foot line, later converting some parts to standard gauge). Whatever paint scheme they end up wearing, I hope that the former Yukon diesels serve the D&S faithfully.
Thank you for reading this week's Shunting Ideas Around Editorial. What're your thoughts on the D&S's purchase of former White Pass & Yukon diesels? What other narrow gauge railway would you like to see buy some of their retired fleet? Let us know in the comments on Facebook or Twitter.
Unfortunately since The Occasional Express is a 1 person operation ("big" surprise I'm sure) real life has gotten in the way of researching and writing articles, especially with complications regarding COVID-19. I'm not sure when I will be able to write regularly again, as the foreseeable future looks to have a very depressing mood with preservation groups and heritage railways struggling to make ends meet during the global pandemic. (If you can, please consider donating to your local museum or heritage railway)
I'll try to keep things positive here, and want to encourage everyone to follow the professional news sources if I'm not able to post here. And remember we will get through this.
All right, onto the topic of this post. Usually with The Occasional Express, if a story's already been covered by the professionals (ex: Trains Magazine) I usually don't talk about it on here. However, a discussion has come up around this news I do want to discuss. In case you were unaware, allow me to summarize.
The White Pass & Yukon Railroad, a 3 foot narrow gauge tourist line in Alaska, announced this year that they are replacing their aging fleet of diesels with new ones. The original locomotives were built from 1969 to 1971 by the Montreal Locomotive Works as members of the DL535C class, according to Trains Magazine. (You can read their article about the recent news here).
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| A photo of one of the current White Pass & Yukon Diesels that will be replaced by their newer counterparts. Source: By The original uploader was Jadecolour at English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Quatro Valvole., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3606945 |
When the news broke in a rail preservation discussion group I'm in, speculation about the fate of the historic diesels was rampant. Would they possibly be bought by the newly reopening East Broad Top? Was there any hope at all for them, or would they end up being scrapped?
Recently the fate of some of the diesels was disclosed. On April 15th, The Durango Herald announced that the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad were purchasing four DL535C locomotives. The first two, No.'s 101 and 107 are already en route to Colorado, according to Trains Magazine.
When I saw the news, I was excited, and shared the Durango Herald article in the aforementioned preservation group. Unfortunately, things turned a little negative.
One of the concerns I saw in the group was that the D&S would slowly stop using steam locomotives, which I initially scoffed at. However, with some reflection, I understand the concern. Steam locomotives are expensive to maintain, so if you were given the option of using a much cheaper alternative, why wouldn't you? It happened with the large railroad companies when steam ended, and has happened in preservation. The first example that comes to mind is the Snowdon Mountain Railway (which is not a criticism, mind you, just an example, though they do still use steam on special occasions).
 |
| Durango & Silverton 476 operating in 2000. Source: Don O'Brien from Piketon, Ohio, United States - Durango & Silverton Engine 476Uploaded by PDTillman, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14632319 |
Another big factor I believe that will keep the steam locomotives running is the tourist draw. While one person stated otherwise in the discussion, I personally feel that the steam power is a drawing factor for tourists, in particular rail enthusiasts. To see locomotives running on the same track that they were built for is pretty rare and special, especially for narrow gauge. It's a tradition that I doubt the D&S is going to want to give up.
To end on a positive, here's how I look at the situation: 4 historic diesel locomotives have found a new lease on life. To me, that's a positive, and in these uncertain times, let's celebrate that, and not worry about if the D&S will end running steam locos. Plenty of lines operate diesels and steam (look at the UK for example). I look forward to following this story, and in particular seeing what liveries the engines will carry, as I doubt the White Pass & Yukon would appreciate their old engines carrying their iconic yellow and green livery.
 |
| Future livery for the new D&S locos? Source: Terry Cantrell - originally posted to Flickr as UP 8637, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3876574 |
Thank you for reading this week's Shunting Ideas Around Editorial. What're your thoughts on the D&S's purchase of former White Pass & Yukon diesels? What other narrow gauge railway would you like to see buy some of their retired fleet? Let us know in the comments on Facebook or Twitter.
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