My wife and I visited Silverton, Colorado on our trip home after attending the 2012 Union Pacific Historical Society convention held at North Platte, Nebraska. While at the Silverton Depot of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad we watched the arrival of several passenger trains coming from Durango. Soon after each arrival, a track speeder putt-putted up to the depot and stopped nearby. Each train is followed by a track-worker riding on a speeder. The purpose of this is to inspect the right-of-way for fires or safety issues before the next train uses the ROW. It is obvious the speeders must be removed from the tracks from time to time to get out the way of approaching trains and also perhaps reverse the speeder’s direction of travel. These photographs show the time honored method of doing this.
TRACK SPEEDERS AT SILVERTON DEPOT
WANT SOME HELP?
LIFT IT LIKE IT IS A WHEELBARROW.
LIFT IT AS YOU WOULD A WHEELBARROW AND ROTATE 90 DEGREES
ALIGN WHEELS WITH THE RAILS AND LOWER THE SPEEDER.
OK! NOW PUSH SPEEDER OUT OF THE WAY.
A LITTLE MORE WILL DO.
ANOTHER TRAIN AND ANOTHER SPEEDER ARRIVES.
LIFT AND ROTATE.
WATCH YOUR TOES!
DONE! COFFEE TIME.
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About THE OLD MACHINIST
I am 89 years old and was married for 66 years. My wife passed away in 2016. I am a retired engineer and spent 35 years developing INS gyroscopes. I was a High School mentor in physics, a mountaineer, a model builder, a machinist and I have a degree in Physics. My interests include railroad history and photography, science history, cosmology, interesting people, and old engineering drawings. I place a high value on my friendships. I enjoying my life and I try look forward with a sense of anticipation and curiosity about what my future has in store for me.
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