I lived 20ft from this train in Durango for 25 years. That whistle is stuck in my head. Look on Google maps 'Animas View Drive Durango 81301' I lived in the little house on that road
very true, those air horns have a good range if someone has fine control over their hands. Transport trucks can do a pretty similar one, as long as the truck has a good compressor. And the difference between a low tone and higher is only a fraction of a pound of force.
The whistle sounds good as several have already stated. But that old engine chugging away as it starts up under a load is also fine music to the ears of a motor head. Pull that load old engine!
The main reason is because a steam locomotive is drawing its noise from its lungs essentially. Where is a diesel is pulling its noise from its batteries. Which is why a steam engine whistle sounds more like a yell, and an electric diesel sounds more like a tone of electricity. But yeah steam engines always sound cooler! 😆😁🤠
Nah. For this it would have needed a Ford F150 Painted in Red-White-Blue with a couple of fat folk on the truck bed waving their guns around and screaming "'muricaaaa!".
We had a neighbor I could sit and listen to his stories all day. He worked on the Durango. Silverton line leading pack mules to the shacks for the railman. I loved his stories. He passed away in the late 80s. The stories he would tell about the pack mules and the Durango Silverton line. I loved it.
@@talesofapunkrockking I think I rode that in 1988. I don't remember it turning around. I do remember playing pool somewhere in Silverton and having to pay a dollar for bouncing the cue ball off the table. 🤣🤣🤣
The smell of and sight of the smoke from a coal fired steam locomotive is absolutely unique, nostalgic, and an experience that is so wonderful. That's something that using oil can't replicate. The two are totally different in the way you experience them through your senses. I've always loved that unique smell and feeling I'd experience from a coal fired steam locomotive. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't know and put into words, period. Hate to see any steam locomotive not originally designed and built to run off oil converted to do so. It's better in some situations like this to change, and I understand it's to help stop wildfires starting from sparks, but it still feels wrong to me to do. 👍
I understand the sentiment, and I wish they didn't have to be converted, but if it's to prevent fires or even the perception that fires may be started by the locomotives, I don't mind. An oil-fired steam locomotive is still a steam locomotive, and if converting to oil will help these locomotives run for another hundred years, then I'm all for it.
I find it funny to. I mean Here in Australia we run on coal. What we actually do is Steam Ban during the bushfire season. December to March. It's not a time people want to work Steam locomotives due to heat and it allows you time to get them sorted.
We rode the Grand Canyon Railroad summer of 2023 from Williams to the South Rim of the Canyon. They only run the steamers on certain days as it is but didn’t run them because of the dry conditions and potential for causing a forest fire.🔥
I rode this train on vacation. I highly recommend this train ride from Durango to Silverton and back. It's an epic experience thru the mountains of Colorado.
I love that blessed whistle. It is a shame that these types of trains no longer run normally. They are so iconic! you feel like you're on a magical journey ❤
Visit San Diego railway museum and campo railway museum Campo had train rides most days... A nice ride but nothing compared to big trees railroad or Durango and Silverton trip big trees ride my favorite enjoy friends
Here in England 99%of our coal mines closed I the 70s and 80s. Many communities are still struggling to find a new identity and permanent jobs elsewhere. As the coal age ended, the tech age arose, and many educated only for the coal industry, have fallen down the gap on transition
It's incredibly sad 😢, I'm a Steam Enthusiast myself and love the smell of a coal fired steam locomotive, it's a smell you can't explain as it's so unique, It makes no sense at all does it?, they shut nearly all our coal mines here in the United Kingdom, where we have plenty of good quality Steam coal still, to bring coal here from countries thousands of miles away, They keep going on about carbon emissions, yet close nearly all our coal mines to ship coal thousands of miles to here, Mining ⛏️ and transporting coal to heritage railways in the UK, would create far less emissions than bringing it here from countries thousands of miles away on ships, then having to transport it to the heritage railways too.
Thats like saying "oh we should keep using medieval medical techniques and technology". It's just uneconomical, inefficient and unsafe. All coals have a tendancy to self-heat and expel methane gas into the air, which is toxic. And coal is just really inefficient and wasteful because a lot of potential energy gets converted into wasted heat energy, meaning they are only around 12-35% efficient.
why, exactly? Have you rode it before? you pick cinders ouf of your hair for days afterwards, it pollutes everything along its route. I'd even be curious about how profitable it is. Also a boring ride after about the first hour. If you love it so much, start your own!
Yeah misleading title, apparently they have quality restrictions on coal, and thus ita cheaper and easier to convert from coal burning to oil burning. A conversion that's been done since steam was a tween.
@@dodgy1779 Partly because of wildfires. Coal run trains are very ashy and throw sparks. Oil run trains burn cleanly. The black smoke you see from any steam engine is just them doing it for the camera, because that's wasted fuel out the stack.
@@michaellewis4632 The nostalgia is still there. They are steam locomotives built in the 1920s and before, and that's NOT changing. Coal-burning locomotives have been converted to oil before now, and a few oil-burning locomotives have even been converted to coal in the past, and they were ALL still steam locomotives--fire breathing, whistling, bellowing STEAM LOCOMOTIVES! And these ones are, too; and they're still wonderful machines.
@@ericemmons3040I appreciate your attempt and it made me feel 83% better. That last 17% is still pissing me off though as it's just another kick in the nuts by the same people that are bringing on the destruction of the United States for no other reason than to gain power and to kill babies. Yeah I said it.
Train to MacDonald's. "Attention passengers, our train arrives at McDonald's station, the stop is five minutes, you can buy something from drinks, snacks and hot dishes!".
I Lived Next To The Train Tracks in West Virginia... I LOVE The Train Sound.. Now in Dayton Ohio at 11:34pm Every Night I Hear Our Train Whistle ❤I Sleep Because i Feel Safe.. Like I'm Back Home😔
My dad worked for the railroad and he could tell you what every screw, nut, bolt and carriage weighed..he knew pretty much everything about the trains.. whenever we would get stuck at a crossing he would start telling us stuff about the individual parts of the train and what it did or what it was used for..
this is an era that shouldnt have ended. its a fantastic felling standing next to one of these behemeths and listening to there sweet sounds. i got a chance to see the 4014 and what a treat!!! i own a steam tractor but its nothing compaired to these irons!!!!
FUN FACT: oil burners aren’t a product of the preservation era. They’ve existed in this country since the late 1800s! FUNNER FACT: the Southern Pacific, lacking a source of high quality coal, was the first railroad to run an all oil fired steam fleet!
The reason theyre converting it to oil is because they literally dont have anymore coal on hand, and its cheaper to convert it than to buy more. Non-profits still need money, and there are plenty other coal burning locomotives that exist
Heard that nearly every day for 45 years. Early 70s, it still hauled mine supplies. You could ride to Silverton for a couple bucks. You could load your horse on the stock car and get off high in the mountains for a pack trip. If you come, stay at the Strater Hotel. Original and historically correct. And really haunted.
Imagine being clueless and waking up to that sound. I did, I've lived by trains my whole life and can tell what direction they are going (diesel). When I heard this, it took me a second. That's NOT a diesel... It was the local Soo Line 1003 and she only runs like 2 times a year. Needless to say I now know when she runs. It's an awesome machine, ran by an awesome crew.
It’s a shame to shut down that old train. I’m 72 and remember laying in my bed at night at my Grandparent’s home in Wayne ,Nebraska and hearing that wonderful whistle from across town. It sounded so mournful .
First six years of my life were living with the sound and beauty of that train in Durango. Let her run as designed. She is and always has been amazing.
each engineer has their own unique whistle, it was how they knew who wss coming and going, for station personnel and other train drivers alike, and it's true today as well, with so many rebuilt steam trains around.
My favorite RU-vid video. I could have this on a loop all day.The colors of this video are amazing. And of course the stunning sounds of the locomotive. I want a model of this. lol
I live in Durango. They had a crazy fire happen from the coal or whatever on the steam train. I do wonder if it will still have a smoke machine emitting fake smoke to keep the old school feeling alive?
Being converted to oil has nothing to do with that, it's for ease of use and maintenance, and cheaper cost to run. Burning oil is also bad for the environment.
What a National Treasure!! I've been on it once. Never realized from hearing in the movies, that after a train would arrive in any given town, as to why people had to go first to freshen up a bit......that is, until I rode the train to Silverton & back to Durango. The soot on my clothes & face were so much a part of the total experience!!!! I loved every single minute on that train!!! Will never forget it either!!!
We rode the Grand Canyon Railroad summer of 2023 from Williams to the South Rim of the Canyon. They only run the steamers on certain days as it is but didn’t run them because of the dry conditions and potential for causing a forest fire.🔥
I’ve been riding on this train for over 40 years. Apparently they’ve been converting the fireboxes to burn oil instead of coal after coal embers started a wildfire in 2020. When I rode in 2022, I hadn’t noticed the change, as it’s still the same engine billowing steam and smoke, but with slightly less destructive smoke. It’s still totally worth riding and is still my favorite train to ride on in Colorado.
I will forever in love with Steam Engine Train or any old classic trains that ever exist.. i just love how amazing they looked especially their wheel part
They would but because of a larger risk of fires the railroad limit burn coal during the winter. However burning coal and oil both is expensive, so the railroad decided to use oil instead of both coal and oil.
@@davemckolanis4683 and? That doesn’t take away that this is the last coal fired locomotive to ever run on this branch that has been served for 142 years straight by 3 different railroads, and yeah, I know there’s other coal fired locomotives that are so much bigger and better than the little K-36 that 481 is but it’s the end of an era on that line. Yes, I wish that McDonalds didn’t decide to move in across the street from the station in Durango but that’s just a thing we have to deal with as we move forward in time. So stop whining and appreciate the shot.
@@RGH2007 If You Want To See Something VASTLY MORE Historic, Visit The East Broad Top Railroad Below Huntington PA. A Short Steam Rail Line That Ran From 1872 Until It Ended In 1956. With The Shops, Locomotives, Cars And All The Huge Presses And Repair Facilities Still In Tact. As If Everybody Went Home For Lunch And It Was Frozen In Time. Steam Locomotive Trains Run On Exhibition Weekends, With Volunteers Repairing The Engines, Rolling Stock And Several Buildings At The Yard. ALL The Steam Locomotives In The East Primarily Ran On Coal. So Your Short Video Of Mostly A Hamburger Joint Is SQUAT And No Big Deal. Compared To A Complete Rail Yard Facility, Train Cars And Public Rides For 12-miles To Huntington And Back, For An Entire Afternoon. Something That The Whole Family Can Enjoy. There Are Several Videos About It On U-Tube If You Want To Check It Out Further...
Saying Cole is so bad for the environment, saying it’s a fossil fuel, but lithium for those electronic batteries that they use for their cards also made out of toxic fossil fuels too. That lithium is extremely toxic.
The answer is ultimately neither is good, just one will destroy the earth faster. If our energy grid was completely green based we could run coal train excursions without any significant side-effects. You want to save the steam engines, you gotta get the rest of the world to go green.
@geraldfriend256 bullshit. I live in Pennsylvania country. There are hundreds of mines and at least 10 coal power plants within a 45 minute drive of where I am. 0 pollution, 0 smog, 0 impact.
@Azure_Fire I'm an avid outdoorsman. I couldn't be more objective. The people that complain that most about coal are the people that know least about coal.
Horrible! Just horrible that there won't be anymore true steam Trains running from here. Shame on you Durango and Silverton Staff for stopping history from being made. I won't be taking this train again anytime soon. Might as well just stop all excursion trains in the future because of history being ruined.
"True steam trains" the bloody hell you mean it for the saftey of the environment so if you Wanna blame anything call climate change also not a true if thats cause the conversion look around there a ton of locos that had to go through that for one reason or another
And history ain't ruined this a new chapter, they are true steam a ton of locos had to go through the same thing and specially now as the climate changes won't want the forest burning down.
They also are true steam idk what makes you think they ain't, there are a ton and I mean a ton of locos that had to go through the same conversion that 481 and the rest are going through, and they are getting effected into doing these conversions as the climate changes
