{"id":24533,"date":"2024-12-02T19:02:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/with-completion-of-shop-durango-railroad-opens-for-contract-work\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:55:18","slug":"with-completion-of-shop-durango-railroad-opens-for-contract-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/with-completion-of-shop-durango-railroad-opens-for-contract-work\/","title":{"rendered":"With completion of shop, Durango railroad opens for contract work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad crews refurbished this 143-year-old locomotive for Knott\u2019s Berry Farm in Southern California. The D&SNG has found a niche for doing repair and rebuilds for other railroads. (Courtesy of D&SNG)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After nearly six years of planning and construction, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad completed a major addition to its contract shop building at the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

The 10,000-square-foot expansion is dedicated to train car and locomotive maintenance. D&SNG also offers contract services for theme parks such as Knott\u2019s Berry Farm and Six Flags, providing maintenance and repairs for their trains and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started planning this back in 2018,\u201d said John Harper, General Manager of American Heritage Railways. \u201cAfter navigating the planning and development stages, we were finally able to open at the end of the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $3.25 million project includes $250,000 invested in two large automated computer numerical control machines, capable of performing tasks like cutting, drilling, milling and sanding.<\/p>\n

With the added space and advanced equipment, the railroad plans to take on more service contracts and enhance its in-house renovation capabilities. Recently, the Contract Division restored a 143-year-old locomotive for Knott\u2019s Berry Farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a significant increase in requests for contract work,\u201d Harper said.<\/p>\n

Harper said the demand for contract work has doubled since last year, in part because the railroad has the capability to work on more locomotives and train cars.<\/p>\n

Currently, D&SNG is working on three complete locomotive rebuilds and one train car rebuild.<\/p>\n

The increased demand has prompted D&SNG to seek five additional employees, specifically welders and machinists. As of Monday, the railroad employed 46 employees in this sector.<\/p>\n

D&SNG is also making strides toward sustainability, having installed about 50% of the solar panels planned for its facilities. In July, the railroad announced a partnership with Shaw Solar to install 868 panels as part of its green initiative.<\/p>\n

A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant covered half of the $1.5 million installation cost. The solar project aims to reduce energy expenses and lower the railroad\u2019s carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

Once completed, the solar panels will replace an average of 640,000 kWh of power plant-supplied electricity annually and eliminate over 1 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

D&SNG is rebuilding locomotives and train cars for remote customers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,170],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-durango-and-silverton-narrow-gauge-railroad-co"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78570,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24533\/revisions\/78570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24533"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}