Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad - Flangers Patrolling the Silverton Branch скачать в хорошем качестве

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad - Flangers Patrolling the Silverton Branch

Running a railroad in the mountains has its challenges. Sudden rock slides, mudslides, heavy rain, and other unexpected hazards can delay or halt operations. However, when Winter arrives, a new challenge arises. For centuries, railroads have tried and tested many ways to fight the brutal snowfall their right-of-ways have to endure during the long and cold months. To combat this force, railroads use different kinds of equipment such as wedge plows and rotary snow plows. However, on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a different type of snow fighting can be found there during the winter months. Traditionally, on the Silverton Branch, rotary snow plows were deemed too heavy and wide and thus something a lot smaller was used. Originally patented in 1885, the railroad flanger was used during the winter months to clear the right of ways and keep the branch line open during the winter months. This tradition still carries on to this day. 2025 also happens to mark the 100th Anniversary of the construction of the iconic K-36 Class Mikados and the Durango & Silverton is going all out and celebrating this important date. For the Winter, it was planned to have K-36 #482 pull a special flanger extra for photographers to capture on special runbys throughout the Animas River Canyon. The second day would have the locomotive pulling a freight train instead. However, all of this would sadly not go to plan. Although #482 had recently just come out of a major rebuild, crews were having trouble breaking in the trailing truck, which was having bearing issues and it would run way too hot. The shop crews worked around the clock to fix the issue and they felt good enough to put the locomotive on the Flanger special, which was set to depart first thing in the morning at 7:45 am. The train did depart on scheduled time but they were still being cautious, and decided to stop at Event Park Wye to check on the bearing. It was running a little hot but was able to cool down and they decided to keep going. They once again stopped, this time at Hermosa to check on the bearing and it was still running hot so they held for a few minutes again but still felt confident. Once they reached Rockwood, the temperature of the bearing was reading over 400 degrees Fahrenheit and it was decided that #482 would go no further and be sent back to the shops as soon as possible. All hope was not lost though. It was decided that K-28 #476, which was already in charge of the Cascade Canyon train, would take over for the #482 and perform the runbys in the canyon for the photographers while an ALCo DL535 would continue to lead the Cascade train and #482 would return to Durango to have its bearing worked on again. While we were not officially attending this segment of the event, we still got to capture #476 returning back to Durango after a successful trip of runbys with the Flanger. It was also decided that #476 would fill in for the planned night photo session that was to take place at the Durango depot and roundhouse later that evening. It was also decided for the #476 to take charge of the freight train scheduled for the next day. Despite all the issues and delays, we still had a great time capturing railroading at its finest at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to put on a spectacular show of force to its customers and fans alike. Please enjoy our coverage of Flangers patrolling the Silverton Branch! Check out my friends who were also in attendance! ‪@CameraManRailFan‬ ‪@some_train_guy‬ ‪@Big_Diehl‬ ‪@tyestrains‬ Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:18 - Extra 482 departs Durango 1:08 - 32nd Street 1:34 - Home Ranch Siding 2:00 - Crossing a small bridge 2:18 - Trimble 2:52 - Hermosa 3:20 - Milepost 466 3:44 - Rockwood 5:23 - Chase trains arrives 5:52 - #476 and #101 with train 261 at Lockes Mountain 6:58 - Milepost 466 7:25 - Shalona Lake 9:04 - #476 takes charge of the Flanger 9:37 - #101 departs with train 261 for Cascade 10:01 - #482 limps back to Durango 10:46 - #476 with Flanger at Rockwood Cut 11:52 - Milepost 467 12:23 - Thompson Lane 12:49 - Hermosa 13:18 - Small bridge 13:30 - 36th Street 14:04 - 15th Street Copyright 2025, Jack Fellure. Any reproduction or reuse of this footage without permission will have consequences for those who decide to not abide by this request. I take a lot of time money, and effort into these, and I would appreciate it if you respect what I request.