D&SNG has prepared for a couple of years to convert some locomotives to burn oil and turn away from coal. Coal-burning engines can emit small cinders from their smokestacks and can start fires.<\/p>\n
Harper has said it\u2019s important to have the option of running oil-powered locomotives during extreme drought.<\/p>\n
This issue came to a head in summer 2018, when drought, high fire danger and the 416 Fire caused the D&SNG to shut down for more than 40 days. Since then, Harper has said the railroad would have to adapt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking to a guy who 15 years ago said I\u2019ll never have anything beside coal engines,\u201d Harper said. \u201cBut we have to evolve. We all have to evolve. That\u2019s just part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locomotive No. 493 was built in 1902 and ran for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad all over Colorado. But in the mid-1900s, it was taken out of service, and when the D&SNG bought the line in 1981, No. 493 was determined too big for its needs and was put on display at a museum in Silverton.<\/p>\n And there it sat for decades.<\/p>\n That is until around 2016, when the D&SNG decided to add a seventh locomotive to its fleet and looked to the coal-fired No. 493 as an engine that could be converted to burn oil. Crews got to work in winter 2018, breaking down and putting back together the historic locomotive.<\/p>\n After more than an estimated 7,500 work-hours and $625,000 in materials and labor, the No. 493 will make its official debut Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty proud moment,\u201d said Jeff Johnson, chief operating officer of American Heritage Railways, D&SNG\u2019s parent company.<\/p>\n No. 493 is expected to join the railroad\u2019s lineup this spring and work its way up and down the rails to Silverton.<\/p>\n Randy Babcock, D&SNG\u2019s chief mechanical officer, said there\u2019s not much of an operational difference, though No. 493 won\u2019t require someone to shovel coal. Crews gained experience last year on an oil engine when the SP-18 locomotive was brought in on loan.<\/p>\n For passengers, the experience will be largely unchanged. Each locomotive billows iconic steam out its stack, blows its nostalgic whistle through town and provides riders with the same breathtaking views of the San Juan Mountains.<\/p>\n But for a community that has continually called for the D&SNG to burn a cleaner fuel, especially after the 416 Fire, the conversion to oil has much bigger significance.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really pleased the train is rolling out a new oil-burning engine and is working to convert another as well,\u201d said La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt. \u201cThe train is an important part of our economic engine, and it\u2019s critical that these new units be used to avoid future disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan Morris says he is not against the D&SNG or trying to shut down the beloved train. But living just blocks from the train depot, Morris and his family have had their fair share of complaints.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen trains come back to the yard, they run all night long because the coal boilers need to stay hot,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we get a nighttime inversion almost every night, and there\u2019s this plume that covers most of the south side.\u201d<\/p>\n Morris said he keeps his windows closed to keep smoke out of his house, but sometimes the floors or the blinds will still turn black. He can\u2019t put out laundry to dry because it will become discolored. Plants in his garden usually have a layer of soot.<\/p>\n But neighbors\u2019 complaints, for the most part, have been anecdotal, Morris said. So, after the 416 Fire, he and a few others installed air quality monitors at their houses, and the findings were shocking.<\/p>\n