{"id":51003,"date":"2020-10-13T16:56:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T22:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-railroad-names-its-first-female-conductor\/"},"modified":"2020-10-13T22:56:54","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T22:56:54","slug":"durango-railroad-names-its-first-female-conductor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-railroad-names-its-first-female-conductor\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango railroad names its first female conductor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kylah
Kylah Thompson is the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s first female conductor. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to walk in the footsteps of a lot of the people who built this place,\u201d she says. Conductors are in charge of the train and all its movements.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Meet Kylah Thompson, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s first female conductor in the historic railway\u2019s long and storied history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost unreal,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to walk in the footsteps of a lot of the people who built this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Denver & Rio Grande Railway first reached Durango in 1880, and just two years later, a line was built to Silverton. Ever since, locomotives have been carrying passengers deep into the scenic San Juan Mountains.<\/p>\n

\"Before
Before becoming the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad&#x2019;s first female conductor, Kylah Thompson, 23, worked as a brakeman and fireman.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

But the role of a conductor, the person in charge of the train, had historically been dominated by men.<\/p>\n

Darren Whitten, superintendent of D&SNG operations, said the railroad in the 1990s did have two women who would help with conductor duties here and there, but there\u2019s never been a fully promoted, on-paper female conductor.<\/p>\n

Until Thompson arrived.<\/p>\n

Whitten was adamant: Thompson was not promoted because she is a woman, she was promoted because of her outstanding work ethic and skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cKylah is a very bright girl \u2026 and has gone above and beyond on her own terms,\u201d Whitten said. \u201cShe does not have an issue taking charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson, 23, grew up in Colorado Springs. She said her father loved the San Juan Mountains, frequently took the family to Durango and, yes, on trips on the D&SNG.<\/p>\n

After attending college in Denver to be an emergency medical technician, Thompson wanted to get out of the city and moved to Durango, taking a job with the D&SNG as a photographer in June 2017.<\/p>\n

By August 2017, she had moved up to working as a brakeman, which works under the conductor and is responsible for the safety of passengers. Then, in April 2018, she was offered a job as a fireman in the engine.<\/p>\n

\"Kylah
Kylah Thompson, right, a conductor with the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, has a little fun with co-worker Alicia Stevenson, special event coordinator, recently at Rockwood. Thompson is the first female conductor in the historic railway&#x2019;s long and storied history.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This summer, Thompson was officially signed on as a conductor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not hard to fall in love with it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the best office in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no longer the days of the Wild West, but Whitten said train rides deep into the backcountry still hold a good deal of adventure, and conductors need to be ready for anything.<\/p>\n

Conductors are in charge of the train and all its movements, as well as the safety of the passengers and crews, Whitten said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are, for all intents and purposes, the boss of the train while it\u2019s rolling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trains have been known to break down, and sometimes, the rail line can be damaged, so conductors need a working knowledge of the mechanics of historic locomotives and what to do in an emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in wilderness, and no one is driving alongside the train with a repair kit,\u201d Whitten said. \u201cYou need to know how to field repair, and get to a location where we can make repairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kylah
Kylah Thompson, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad&#x2019;s first female conductor, is also an emergency medical technician. In 2019, she was instrumental in the rescue of a man who suffered a heart attack after a rafting trip on the Upper Animas River.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sometimes passengers, often tourists not accustomed to high elevations, can have medical issues in the wilderness. That\u2019s where Thompson\u2019s experience as an EMT has come into play.<\/p>\n

In July 2019, for instance, Thompson was instrumental in the rescue of a man who suffered a heart attack after a rafting trip on the Upper Animas River, Whitten said.<\/p>\n

Thompson said she is now putting herself through paramedic school, but that won\u2019t take away from her first love: riding the train, a challenge she revels in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be good at it, but to be really able to excel at it, and really be that trustworthy person, especially in a position where I\u2019m in charge of the whole train, I don\u2019t want to make anyone ever question that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Thompson takes note of the historic role she now plays in the D&SNG story, being the first female conductor. But she doesn\u2019t take too much stock in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get promoted just because I am a woman,\u201d she said. \u201cI had to earn it. I had to work hard for it. And everyone who came before me had to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Kylah
Kylah Thompson, a conductor, with the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, assists passengers at Rockwood as they board the train. Thompson is the first female conductor in the historic railway&#x2019;s long and storied history.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thompson earned her way to top position on Durango railroad on trains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[170,13,28,445,4259,199,1187],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-and-silverton-narrow-gauge-railroad-co","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-tourism"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51003","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=51003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51003"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}