By the 1970s, it was obvious that the Durango-to-Silverton segment of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad had little relationship to the broad-gauge freight-hauling railroad whose locomotives thundered across the plains and across the Rockies.
Service between Durango and Farmington had been eliminated in the mid-1960s, and freight to Silverton traveled U.S. Highway 550 above the canyon. One of the railroad’s very few customers, and only twice a year, was the terrain-locked Ah Wilderness guest ranch along the Animas River near Cascade Creek. It had to use the railroad to relocate its string of horses in the spring and fall.
The narrow gauge to Silverton was carrying only passengers, two or three times a week, yet the D&RG, mandated to keep it operating, had to properly staff it and apply minimal upkeep. The D&RG was not in the tourist train business.
There were a couple of local efforts at the time to purchase the train to put it on a more predictable footing, but they went nowhere. In one case, local ownership would have been in a nonprofit organization, which would have removed the railroad’s property from the tax rolls. Silverton – San Juan County – where taxable property was in short supply, opposed that.
That was why having the Durango-to-Silverton railroad in private hands, new hands, in 1981 was so critical. And, as it quickly became clear, Charles Bradshaw was just the right person at the time to own it.
Bradshaw’s strength was his love of what might be called railroad infrastructure. Bradshaw added locomotives with greater hauling capacity, rebuilt bridges and widened the roadway where needed. He was imaginative. A “camp car” was constructed in the railroad’s shop, which parked on sidings, such as at Tacoma, served as a multi-day residence for families and small groups (The camp car is no longer used; word is that bears learned to recognize the camp car and did their best to push past family members from Milwaukee to gain the provisions inside). Bradshaw also acquired Silverton’s train station and brought it back to life. He increased the number of train trips between the two towns.
Durango and Silverton saw their tourist economies improve significantly, and he was applauded.
While he expanded the railroad’s operations for the good of all, Bradshaw had a narrow view of how to increase ridership and generate revenue. He infuriated Main Avenue merchants by requiring ticket purchasers to pay by check or cash to avoid credit-card fees; they were in less of a mood to spend in nearby retail stores after leaving the depot. For the same reason, he refused to deal with travel agents.
He could be threatening, as well, which was made worse with little or no prior communication. On one occasion, in a spat with the city of Durango, he suggested that he might no longer allow parking along Narrow Gauge Avenue, which was then owned by the railroad. And, unannounced, property owners in the Animas Valley who had a driveway or agricultural road across the tracks received a letter from Bradshaw demanded something like $300 and proof of insurance.
While Durangoans praised Bradshaw for continuing the railroad’s operations at a significantly greater level, they grumbled about some of his other business decisions.
Many are saying that Bradshaw, who died in Orlando, Fla., last week at 83, saved the Durango-to-Silverton railroad. That he did. Bradshaw also is due credit for putting the railroad into current owner Al Harper’s hands in the mid-1990s. Harper has said that Bradshaw was generous in the financing arrangements he offered.
Harper takes credit cards, and then some. He has established the railroad’s museum where an hour can be spent, created a weekend in August of Railfest activities, and runs very successful short holiday theme rides. He is especially generous to the local philanthropic community. Those community initiatives were built, in a sense, on Bradshaw’s ownership.
Charles Bradshaw was very much the right person for the time in the life of the Durango-to-Silverton railroad.
