Durango & Silverton Railroad Machine Shop Tour 

This takes me back to days when people took the time to appreciate and take pride in what they were doing. Most weren't rushing through a day just to get it over. You can tell that Adam and John have that mindset.

Amazing to see the machinery that helped to build this country. 👍🏼

I just love seeing the big machinery Made In the USA. Whatever happened to those days when things were actually made in North America. Awesome to see it even If it's been a couple of hundred years. It's good to know they're still around, and being used.

Why are the machinists on the railroad the best??? They get the most TRAINing 😉👍

In 1975 , I was 14 , and my family of five piled into my Dad's brand new Plymouth Fury, and we drove cross country from Cape Cod, to California, and back. One of our stops was Durango, CO where we took the coal fired train along the river up to Silverton, CO. I can still remember the sulfur smell of the coal burning, and the smell of the discharged steam that moved our train up the mountains. I was into hot rods, but was still very interested in how the engine worked using coal and steam. The engineer was kind enough to explain the process when I asked him when we got to Silverton. Who knew back then I was going to be a machinist for next 40 plus years. Excellent video, and tour of the machine shop. Thank you for sharing.

“We have this 300t homemade wheel press” Abom: Meh. Also Abom: Look at this bench vice!

Abby has a good eye for composition and light, the photos at the end are great.

Wow! What a special treat for you. A guided tour, and walk around of cool old building. Thank you sir.

Thanks for this vid. Brings back memories of when I worked in oil filed machine shops back in the 70's to mid 80's.

That was a real "SHOP TOUR"... Great to see the heavy metal in use....! Great Job...!

Thank you John & Adam. Much appreciated.

I love these railroad machine shops. We have a narrow gauge museum in Nevada City Ca., I asked one of the guys in the machine shop how do I volunteer when I retire? He said, if you can run a mill or a lathe just stop on by, we’ll put you to work. Dream come true, railroad equipment and machine tools. Keep these videos coming Abom!!

So glad you got to look through these shops Adam. So much awesome history....so lucky to check the machine shop out.

Great tour of the shop, Adam. Thank you, John and Durango & Silverton RR.

Durango is one of my favorite mountain towns. Great historical station.

Wow! Thanks Adam and Mrs., that was a real treat.

On my 70th birthady, bacl in 03. I had a tour of the shop as well. I can see they have picked up a few more nachines. I especially liked the old bullard, as I worked for them back in the 60's installing "Tape controls" on them. Always loved the railroads,My grand father worked on them for 42 years. Guess it's in my blood. Thanks for the memories. Gramps

From North Alabama, we rode one of these trains about 4 years ago and we really enjoyed it..! Thanks for the “background “ tour..!

This is awesome. My family had a home near Durango, I lived in town myself for a while. I've ridden the train several times.

Boy.....this bring back memories. Got something in my eye.....

Love these places. Thanks for sharing. You sure know your machines Adam

Makes me homesick for Colorado. Never rode that train but spent a lot of time in the montains all over the state.

I love trains. It's one of the reasons I became a machinist!

Great video and still photos. Two things I love machine tools and steam trains.

Aloha Abom, Thanks for your sharing, that is my old stomping grounds, I worked across the street at the highway department shop, its no longer there, for 21 years back it the 70's and 80's, as the machinist I could look out the window and see that operation. between Alamosa and Chama there was a lot of historical iron available and I am so happy to seeing it used and restored, I am also happy to see the progress made in the shops of the railroad. You can't believe in the progress they have made since I was there.

Great to see the shop, at Durango again. I worked for the D&RGW and did some work there. I was Water Service, out of Pueblo and ran up there to do boiler work at the depot and installed a new water tank, at Hermosa. I always enjoyed working there. The guys in the machine shop were a fun bunch. Friday, after work the foreman would always bring in a case of beer, to end the week. I see they painted the old brick wall so you can't see where the end of the air receiver blew off and went through the wall and down the street. Lot's of history, there. Thanks for the video!

Lived in Durango for about a year and rode the narrow gauge once. Great tour. Amazing to see those massive machines and the fact that they're still cranking out parts.

Man this is cool. My parents brought me here in the 90's and me and my dad got to tour the shop. Really awesome to see again ~25 years later. One of these days I'll make it back out there. Thanks for posting this Adam!

Incredible shop tour. Thanks for sharing Adam.

I like the shop tours, getting to see all those old machines is really nice.

What a great video! Saw things I wished to see my entire life. Thank you Adam.

Nice to see how they maintenance and rebuild everything. Massive machining!

Wow that brought back a ton of memory's when I was a working at SP as a machinist foreman.

Awesome shop! Thanks for the tour.

Adam, Abby Glad you hag a good time on the Durango & Sliverton rail. I did that 20+ years ago before the fire. That is just amazingly beautiful country side.

Best tour ever, good job Mr. Abom

Fantastic video! Iron, steel, brass and bronze. Lots of oil! And little if any plastic! Thanks Abby, Adam and John!

Magnificent country. I drove through and stayed in Ouray just beyond Silverton. Well worth the trip and Ouray is quaint and friendly.

Great video. Love those trains. Nice big equipment. Thank you for sharing.

That was very nice of John the show you two around. There is some beautiful country in the Rocky's

Looks like you guys had a great time and John seems like a really good guy I cannot believe that they keep all those engines going with that equipment

Amazing, thank you very much for making this vid. UK/England is miles away but rail heritage is just awe inspiring no matter which of our great nations you are in. My partner and i used to spent time up in the Catskills the little railroad up there was nice to see, never got to ride the train as the track had been washed out in the floods. The life that comes out of old steam engines is just so inspiring and addictive - probably made all engineers want to be engineers. To see inside the workshops as well, bonus.

Adam & Abby, Awesome video on their shop & round house thanks for sharing.!.!.!.

I love how much you geek out over a vise :-)

Hi Adam I really enjoyed this video, I did my apprentiship on the NSW railways in Australia in 60's when steam was still in use and the tour of the roundhouse and all the machinery brought back so many memories as the machines were what I was trained on and had a great time learning my trade. Steam was great.

Thanks for sharing Adam. I love those NG Engines and am building the K36 in 1/5th scale 7.25ga. It's great to see their Machine Shop.

Wow that was an awesome couple vids Adam. Thank u.

Thanks for the added tour to what and where they keep the trains running. That was an awesome video !!👍👍

Thank You for that machine shop tour it made a fantastic video.

Very nice of them to give you that shop tour. Thanks for the video Keep up the good work !!!!

What a super interesting video this is. Also, it's great to see a place where big machine shop old-school expertise is used on a daily basis.

Thanks Adam - really interesting place.

Thanks Adam, I’m a railroader, I’m a carman, we inspect and fix all forms of train cars. I don’t get to do the kind of precision stuff you mechanists get to do, you guys have some beautiful tools, I could do my job with a torch, hammer or rock, 15/16’s, 3/4, 9/16’s wrenches and sockets. They don’t care how it looks as long as it’s fixed. Love your videos, your knowledge and love for the craft is something that keeps me watching, thanks again my man. You have me wanting to switch trades.

Thank You Adam!

Hi Adam, Greetings from France, my daughter lives with her family in Durango and she worked on the museum railway during her college years. Nice to see it again.

I miss working at the plant where I was in maintenance. We made a lot of the parts that we needed due to long lead times on factory replacements. Most of the time we made them better that the original to prevent the failures that had occurred. Great video!!!

Thanks for taking the time to record that Adam, it's really cool to see machines in their normal habitat. I bet you were itching to work on that axle...

Fascinating. I took the trip in 2003, and won’t ever forget it. I believe Ed Dickens paid some dues on the D&SNGRR, and now we have a fully operational Big Boy to show for it.

Thank you Abby and Adam for this great shop tour. A few years ago I made a tour with the Durango Silverton Railroad. It was a great tour. During the shop tour I saw a lot of big machines but the are mostly really unorganized. If seems to me that the machinist do not clean the machines up after a job is finished. I guess the machinist spend a lot of time with searching tools.. I personally do not like cleaning a machine first before starting a new job. Adam, you shop Organisation is really perfect. I recommend that the Durango machinist watch your dos and don’t video.

Thanks for a great tour.

Isn't that just the coolest stuff! I love Durango. Lived there from 78 to 85. Because I have friends there I take a motorcycle trip out there from OKC most every summer. Just a beautiful area of the country! Hope you had a great time out there.

Dude!!!! I love that train. Rode it as a kid. I grew up in those mountains and its just the prettiest place

Thank you John.

What a great tour!! I used to spend a lot of time in Durango during the late 80s through late 80s in the oil/gas/power gen field. Saddens me that I never got to ride the train. But with the advent of technology, I can now get to see what I missed! Oh to be a young man again...

This was fabulous. Thanks so much.

I'm gald you were able to make this trip, i've ridden that train many decades ago, its an experience you'll never forget.. and that is the same locomotive that took me, my dad, and my brother...

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

So very cool how you can sniff out a Machine Shop and Abbie seems to enjoy it too.

Man. That's one beautiful train station

Nice clean shop . Beauty.

Here comes the Silverton up from Durango, here comes the Silverton a'shovelin' coal. Great vid!

Great video... Abby's got a great eye, those photos aren't just photos, they are works of art.

Pretty darned awesome!

Amazing video. Thanks Adam.

A fantastic video. best regards from Berlin Germany.

What a great video! Excellent look into the railroad

Oddly enough I was telling a co worker about your channel a year or two ago. Told him you got some big boy lathes. He asked if I’d ever been to the trains machine shop when I told him I used to work there, (cleaning the cars.). Said,”they got some of the biggest lathes you’ve ever seen.” Now I get to see them lol.

14:12 That's a nice sized Carlton, I think you'd like the one we use at work Adam. It's a Carlton 10'x26" that we use for drilling 9'x15' dies also with the 90 degree base. I should try to get a picture of it for you.

I share your love for tools, great video!

Awesome video, really enjoyed it. Just love those old train's. 😁😁😁😁😁😁

Very enjoyable video, thank you. Boy, the size of some of those machines is unreal. Abbey did a great job on the photos as well. Atb to you both from the UK.

So happy to see that Lucas boring mill. We had one of those in school, made during WWII, it was overkill for us but I loved it because once you learned how to make it dance for you, it felt so good.

Man I bet you was like dam I wish they would clean up the machines an the shop lol. Thanks for the tour of the shop it is very cool to see.

Very interesting tour, thanks for sharing..

Awesome video,thank you for sharing.

love those machines!!!

Awesome shop tour. I love those big old machines. When you start them up you can feel it in the floor. My family and I took a ride on those trains for a day in 1975 . We drove cross country from New England to CA that Summer. The Silverton train ride had to be one of the highlights. I was only 14 but was already working in a machine shop at home. Wish I could have seen the train maintenance machine shop. Thank you for sharing your tour. Take care

Pretty neat to see the machinery that keeps those trains running

I really enjoyed this video. My grandfather was a brakeman on the same narrow gauge line in the 1930’s when it was owned and operated by the Denver and Rio Grande Western. My great grandfather worked as a machinist in the roundhouse in Alamosa, Colorado on the division of the line where engine 478 was once based. I know my grandfather worked and rode on trains 478 pulled from Alamosa to Chama, New Mexico and then on to Durango. I saw the roundhouse in Durango many years ago and remember how busy the Durango shed was at one time. That was long before the big fire. There are still four or five other roundhouses or engine sheds in existence/operation in Colorado (Silver Plume, Golden,, Durango, and defunct ones in Alamosa and Como). The last standard gauge engine maintenance facility (diesel) closed a couple of years ago in Denver. At one time there were three or four huge maintenance operations. Oh how things change! Thanks for posting this video, Adam! 👍🏻🥃

Very cool Adam, thanks man! Thanks to Abby as well.

Very cool video. Thank you 👍

Love that train. Grew up there and used to get free tickets every winter to ride it up to Cascade Canyon and back.

Thanks for taking us along on the tour and thanks to John for showing you around!

Super cool! I’ve always wanted to see a train museum and learn more about them. 👍👍

Great video thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting this. I lived just south of Durango for several years and saw the trains all the time but had no idea of the extent of the maintenance facilities behind the station.

That's incredible. Makes me want to get a bottom level job there and work my way up.

Merci monsieur Adams pour cette formidable visite dans un atelier de réparation des vielles locomotives qui ont permises le développement de nos pays. B. Rooman à Bruxelles.

Do like that new saw your bought, went through it like butter, already paying its way. Good tools are always a good investment. That wonderful hold growth timber what lovely stuff to work with and I bet it smells wonderful when your cutting it.

I'm a train enthusiast as well as a professional machinist. What a great video. You can have your cake and eat it too!!