Steam & Excursion > Why Was Durango Different?

Images of the roundhouse at Durango, Colorado have always felt wrong, and then the epiphany as to why finally arrived. In every other roundhouse photo, the tenders are aimed at the turntable, the smokebox to the outer wall, but not in Durango. And this not by accident either, as the placement of the smokejacks clearly illustrate. So the question is, why is Durango that way?
Please credit Russell Lee and the Library of Congress for this September 1940 view.
Be of good cheer,
—Mac
www.lowellamrine.com

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First=class historic photo.
Bob

Yes, why? The usual config is because there is more room in the back to work on the locomotive.

Victor Baird

Because?
Gonut

maybe the sun angle, better light to oil around with?    gets pretty hot  in Durango in the summer,  in the winter shut the doors  and do it conventionally?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/25 20:51 by dan.

It appears that most of the Rio Grande's narrow gauge roundhouses were like Durango.  Gunnison, Alamosa, Salida etc.  The new portion of the Alamosa Roundhouse was set up opposite though.

They were "narrow-minded"? <G>

Victor Baird

Good one. <GRIN>
—Mac

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> They were "narrow-minded"?
>
> Victor Baird

This has come up before, memory serves me that there was insifficient lift room in the rear of the structure so
it was built with the power facing out. Notice that the "new": Alamosa roundhouse was noticeably taller.

Out 

That seemed to be a narrow gauge trait out west. I never understood it either. 
 

Here's a thought.... The roundhouses were built in the 1880's when the locomotives were 1/3 the size of the later ones.  The roof slopes down to the rear.  Perhaps the roof at the rear is too low for a locomotives to fit inside.

Alamosa's house was a combination of at least three different eras.  The latest portion was built to standard gauge specifications, which allowed engines to run in forward.

Thank you, that answers a question about that roundhouse.
—Mac

Earlk Wrote:
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> Here's a thought.... The roundhouses were built in
> the 1880's when the locomotives were 1/3 the size
> of the later ones.  The roof slopes down to the
> rear.  Perhaps the roof at the rear is too low
> for a locomotives to fit inside.
>
> Alamosa's house was a combination of at least
> three different eras.  The latest portion was
> built to standard gauge specifications, which
> allowed engines to run in forward.

The D&RG roundhouses in Gunnison, Salida (there was more than one there), and Durango were built in areas where significant snowfall could occur.  Alamosa itself seldom got heavy snow, but did get very cold winter temperatures.  Those D&RG roundhouses had roofs that were sloped toward the rear--presumably to help shed snow load, and not shed it on the tracks leading in/out of the roundhouse stalls.  Also, with the roof slant, the highest ceiling would be at the front of the roundhouse stall.  Hot air, gases (including steam and soot) would tend to rise and follow the ceiling upward to the front area of the stalls, where the exhaust stacks for the stalls would exit the gases, smoke, etc. to the outside.  The heating stoves in the roundhouses were typically located toward the rear of the roundhouse or at the rear, so the exhaust stacks in the roundhouse roof toward the front would also pull warmer air from the stoves forward.  Durango and Salida had somewhat less rigorous winter climates than did Gunnison, but Gunnison would get absolutely brutal cold in winter, especially at night.  From December to late February in Gunnison, temperatures could be below 0° F. for days or weeks at a time, with temperatures dropping to as low as -50° F. on cold winter nights.  Not exactly a fun place to be when dealing with steam locomotives.  Oh, and the roundhouse location in Gunnison was right down by Tomichi Creek, one of the lowest locations in town, where the coldest air tended to pool if there was no wind.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/25 11:18 by WW.

There it is, that's the explanation. Thank you.
—Mac

WW Wrote:
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> The D&RG roundhouses in Gunnison, Salida (there
> was more than one there), and Durango were built
> in areas where significant snowfall could occur. 
 

This is Trainorders at its best.  Learned a lot here.  Thanks to all!

Great thread!

50 below zero!!

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Great thread!
>
> 50 below zero!!
>
> Posted from Android

One extra note about that.  Alamosa can get nearly as cold as Gunnison in ambient temperature.  Fraser/Tabernash in Middle Park (on the Moffat Line) are also among Colorado's (and the lower 48 states) coldest spots in winter in ambient temperature.  All three locales are located in high elevation mountain valleys (7,500 ft. or higher in elevation)  where cold air will pool, especially on cold, clear winter nights.  Fortunately for all three, the coldest ambient temperatures are most likely to occur during periods with no wind or very light wind.  Alamosa is a bit of an exception and get some wind during brutal cold, just because the San Luis Valley, where Alamosa is located, is such a large intermontane valley--it being the largest high elevation mountain valley in the Western Hemisphere. 

For those not familiar with Rocky Mountain vocabulary, dating clear back to the fur trapper days, large mountain valleys in much of the Rocky Mountain West, especially Colorado, were referred to as "parks."  The largest "parks" (not in the recreation sense, but in the mountain valley sense) in Colorado from north to south, are North Park (North Platte River), Browns Park (Yampa River), Middle Park (Colorado River), South Park (South Platte River), San Luis Park (Rio Grande River, but the valley now referred to as the San Luis Valley, rather than Park).  And the smallest of the better known "Parks," Baker's Park (Animas River), which is the small mountain valley where Silverton is located.  All of these "Parks" except Browns Park had railroads passing into or through them at one time or another.  North Park had the  Union Pacific branch to Coalmont, south of Walden; Middle Park had/has the Moffat Line under its various corporate ownership over the years; South Park had the Denver, South Park & Pacific/Denver, Leadville & Gunnison/Colorado & Southern, and the Colorado Midland Railroads;  San Luis Park (Valley) and Baker's Park has/had the Denver & Rio Grande and its successors.  

And for fans of the "South Park" cartoon, there is not any actual town of South Park; the creators of the cartoon patterned the cartoon town after Fairplay, located in South Park--they were familiar with the area, as the creators grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, not that far from South Park, the valley.

Back to railroading, I can't think of any three places that could be much more miserable places to try to service and maintain steam locomotives in winter than Alamosa, Gunnison, and Tabernash.  Alamosa and Gunnison both had their roundhouses, and--if memory serves--Tabernash had an engine house, as it was a helper terminal during the steam days--both for operation over Rollins Pass, and later through the Moffat Tunnel.  I've read stories of hostlers having to move steam locomotives sitting outside at Gunnison or Tabernash frequently during really frigid weather to keep them from freezing to the rails from leaking water and steam condensation from the locomotives.  Probably true in Como in South Park, as well, at the roundhouse that was there (and has been restored).  By the way, I lived in Gunnison for awhile years ago, and I can attest that, in those -40° F. temperatures, if one threw warm water from a bucket up into the air, it would freeze before it hit the ground.  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/25 15:01 by WW.

Thank you for explaining that local linguistic anomaly.
—Mac

WW Wrote:
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> For those not familiar with Rocky Mountain
> vocabulary, dating clear back to the fur trapper
> days, large mountain valleys in much of the Rocky
> Mountain West, especially Colorado, were referred
> to as "parks." 

As a former resident of the San Luis Valley I concur with everything WW says.  The D&RGW Yard in Alamosa crosses the Rio Grande River, the lowest and coldest spot in the valley.  I lived in MOnte Vista, 17 miles to the west and a couple of 200 feet higher in elevation.  It could be 15-20 degrees warmer in Monte Vista than in Alamosa on a January morning.

When I worked for the C&TS on narrow gague steam that called Alamosa home, we found that virtually every steam valve had been attacked with a hacksaw cutting a notch in the valve seat to create a permanent leak in the valve to keep steam pipes from freezing in winter.

Diesel locomotives were (and are) also susceptible to problems  in bitter cold temperature of, say, -25° F. or colder.  Un-winterized diesel fuel in unheated tanks will begin to "gel" when the temperature drops toward 0° F.  At -40° F. it looks like a snow cone.   At -40° F. or lower, #1 diesel fuel in unheated tanks will start gelling.  Straight 30W motor at -40° F. has about the consistency of asphalt oil.  Years back, and possible even yet in some diesel prime movers (engines) in locomotives, it wasn't/isn't possible to use antifreeze in their cooling systems, which is one reason that, in such frigid cold, they are left idling, even for days when necessary, to prevent freeze-ups.  In those years when I lived in Gunnison, contractors, etc. that had diesel equipment without heated fuel tanks would often resort to using Jet A for fuel, which was a bit thinner than #1 diesel.  That was hard on engines, but at least they would stay running in the  cold.  Please note that I'm talking about ambient temperatures, not wind chills.  Wind chill temperatures are predicated on how cold a person feels in windy conditions, based on how fast heat is stripped from an object--like a human.  In equipment, the temperature of a piece of unheated metal is the same as the ambient temperature no matter how hard that the wind is blowing.  The wind only affects how quickly that metal will cool to the amibient temperature as it sheds heat.