I read, with a certain amount of anger and disgust, about what the Durango & Silverton has been going through with their neighbors threatening to do whatever they can to curtail operations if the railroad isn’t a “good neighbor.” Maybe I am in the minority with my point of view. But as I see it, anyone that moved close enough to the facilities or trackage of an operating railroad so that there are issues with soot from coal-fired steam locomotives, then they did not do their due diligence in house hunting.
If the railroad (or any other operation that affected my way of life) had been started after I purchased a home, I would certainly have protested it. I would be up in arms with the local government for allowing it. But for a person(s) to threaten a historical landmark like the D&S after they’ve been in business for almost a century and a half just because they didn’t a proper search of the area sounds very foolish to me.
Kevin W. Blehl
High Bridge, N.J.
