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.
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!
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.
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!!
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.
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
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.
The Construct has been Engineered to Rail against Mishaps. Superior Training. No impasse can stall the weighty loads bearing down on that Track. 2 Green Lights.
A true Railroad Machinist serves 1004 days as an apprentice (slightly over 4 years) before becoming a Journeyman. Mine was recorded with the Department of Labor, apprenticeship standards in Washington DC when I become a rookie journeyman machinist over 60 years ago. However in today's world a Railroad Machinist Apprentice may only receive about 3 months in a machinist shop if the facility actually has a machine shop, most journeymen now are heavy diesel mechanics, working on locomotives, is now only a Craft name from the days of steam.
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.
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! 👍🏻🥃
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.
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.
Hey this is an awesome vid. I got stuck in Durango about 9 years ago when my Harley had the exhaust crack. Luckily the master welder on the railroad was able to fix it, but it gave my dad and I a day to explore the city. I wish I could have gone in and saw the machine shop.
I build and drive steam locomotives as a hobby. I own 2 live steam locomotives. One for 7½" gauge & another I'm building for 4¾" gauge. Professionally, I do CNC machining for a small company.
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.
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.
Wow! I lived in and around Durango and LaPlata County for 30 years, but never got to see the machine shop at the DNS RR. I have to watch it on You Tube from Abom! Great!! Great pictures. You have to remember that they have to make all their own parts; you can't just go to the local locomotive retail store and pick them up!
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...
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
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.
Enjoyed the video, spent 4 years in the NAVY part of it was on a repair ship out of Norfolk Va. USS VULCAN (AR5), worked in the machine shop and identified numerous machines we also had. Our "BEAST" was a 72" KING VTL that was built into the shop, part of the ship was also the top rail, man that was a monster. Also had a ROCKFORD 144" Open Side Planer, several NILES and a couple of BULLARD VTL's and 2 big Horizontal Boring Mills. Great that you could get into the shop and your tour guide was very informative. Again, GREAT VIDEO!
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.
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.
Many of those babies i did my apprentice ship on. Working 72 hour work weeks. Repairing steel mill roller shafts n bearing blocks- 2,000 lbs each casting. Bored on the vbm and outside on open sided planer. Set up tools 12lb sledge hammer and 6' pry bar. Worked our butts off but id do it all over again. Learned a lot from those old machinst n friends.
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!!!
mitch edgar I also rode it a couple times as a kid. I’m from Kansas and rode I twice growing up. I loved going to Silverton with my Dad. He would’ve thought this video was awesome.
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.
You need to try and check out the railroad machine shop in Jamestown California - all gold rush era machines that all still fully operate on a single live axle that runs down the middle of the shop.
I was born there in 1951. My mom and dad in 23 and 21. Still have a lot of family there. I have to ride the old D and RGW. every time I visit. one of those engines was made the year mom was born. My dad helped build the million dollar hiway,550 your route down the mountain after WW2. Enjoy your vids. very much. this one was special. Kinda like going home. I noticed the sign on the old Strater Hotel that was kinda cool too. No American lathes at my house. Have an old Hendey and a 17 inch Leblond Regal couple of mills and such to play with. Not too serious anymore. I have some fun . Really enjoy your videos. Dean Franks
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 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!
Had the pleasure of a trip on this line back in late 80s, I think was told they used a howitzer to clear avalanche threats. Was intrigued by the way the railroad was lashed with cable back to the pins at the cliffs. I did notice on the links to slide control a pan head coach bolt? I was a marine engineer and can't help noticing little inpefections. A great asset to have running, and for learning skills.
I'll never understand why we have such short lives. There are so many things that I find interesting and wish I had to time to learn how to use. With the technology we have now it almost becomes possible to know nothing but still being able to do things we never imagined we could. Keep up the videos and teaching us all the things there are and possibilities there are for us in life.
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...
That American 48 (about 6:00) lathe with faceplate drive is the twin brother of the lathe I ran off and on for 15 years. Unstoppable. You could peel perfect tinfoil chips from cuts 3" wide on work 40" diameter. I bet I scored three dozen 30 and 70 ton winch drums on that lathe. Bored multi-start threads on breech rings timed to the cradle lug. I know I drove a million steam turbine buckets refurbing SSTG and main engine rotors. We had the motor arranged with a reversing contactor and a portable Start/Stop/Rev control station we could take right to the saddle. With a little practice, you could stop/jog/stop to 1/32" of the anchor hole in the winch drum. And yes, it did railroad wheels too but I'd rather machine them on a VBM unless they're already on the axle. Great machine but you'd better start the day with a good breakfast. The carriage traverse frequently broke down so you could sweat a shirt through on a cool day cranking the carriage back 12 feet. A manly lathe if ever there was one. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
The power of steam, hope this workshop stays operational will into the future. Where I live it was shut down sold of all the tools and leveled 1988. It serviced all the rail stock from the east to the west coast of Australia, made a lot of men cry that day.
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.
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.
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.
I worked here for almost 4 years about 4 years ago as a machinist. It was a great place to learn to work with manual machines, (my favorite was the polish and quartering machine) the war baby Bullard is driven by a leather belt and the staples that keep it together was so rhythmic it had almost put me to sleep when turning the tires. The homemade machine he didn't show was an old lathe bed with an 8ft arm that pivots where the headstock would have been and a grinder on the other end to grind the radius in the radius arms (8ft-ish radius). The number of comments about the cleanliness of the shop is hilarious to me (and not surprising) and that was clean, machines were maintained decently but chip bins were usually half full and the floors were always dirty. There is a joke about how most machinists could not make it here (and after working in a "clean shop" most of the guys here would not like it there), also like John said in the summer your a mechanic first, machinist second, also no prints. I used an original print once to machine a cylinder head, most parts on the engines have been fixed so many times that an Original print would not work, you had to make your own. I now work at a machine shop a few miles away that has 4 CNC mills, 5 CNC lathes, and a handful of manuals. The DSNG has been coined the "training ground" for my current company because we have had over a dozen guys over 40 years start at the DSNG machine shop and move here. It was a huge shock to go from "dirt tolerance" (enough room for dirt to escape), to now I'm running a part with +0.0003, -0.0 diameter tolerance. I do miss the excitement in the summer running up and down the engines, working swing shift trying to keep those engines running.
Wonderful tour ..... enjoyed it very much. If you are ever in the Boston area, check out the North Woburn Machine Co; in Woburn Ma. It is a machine/maintenance shop originating from the late 1800s .... a wonderful place to see old machines & tooling of the era used in support of the fledgling leather industry; you’d enjoy it. The place should be a museum! Stay safe and sane!
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.
Cumbres and Toltec is worth the price of admission too. Had a great ride, lunch, and the hospitality on the train was second to none, but I would recommend opting for the better car....There was only four of us in it and a waiter that couldn't keep our stuff full fast enough...It was awesome. Also got to tour the southern pacific centennial steam loco machine shop car. Had connections w/ the railroad police, so while everyone else got the "tourist" version, I got to see it all....
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.
Thanks for the video Abom, I have ridden this train several times but wasn't fortunate to check out the machine shop. Nice tour. Also if get a opportunity ride the steam train from Chama NM to Anonito CO it's well worth it. It's a beautiful ride especially with fall colors. Henry Ford museum/Greenfield village in Dearborn MI has a awesome line shaft machine shop. Give yourself a couple days there.
Thank you, Adam your knowledge of old machines is amazing. Have you thought about going to a shipyard and getting a tour of there shop be interesting g to see how ships propellers a made
Ever watched one of the old documentary films on UA-cam about how steam locomotives were made? Gigantic mills doing frames, huge drop forges, sandcast driver centers and cylinders, and always some musclebound old dude with a big mustache and a sledge hammer fine-tuning some white-hot bit of steel. :D
Adam , This is one of my favorite clips . Them bigger Carltons are a sweetheart to run and I am with you, that #3 Cincinnati Mill is a pull off 3/8" inch at a pass with coolant no problem, most folks have no idea how powerful that 50hp motor in them really are . That machine shop looked like home to me .
Adam, that was an awesome show of the capabilities of the shop used to maintain those trains. I grew up in Colorado Springs and rode the DSNGRR once in the early 80s when my dad and I would go out that way to ride dirt bikes on 4wd trails there. I was out there 2 summers ago on my Harley and took a photo in front of the terminal but didn't have the time to ride the train, although with covid and forest fire prevention, they weren't even running all the way to Silverton from Durango.
Saludos carnal te sigo desde hace 3 años es mi canal favorito tengo 33 años pero me enseñe en el taller de mi papá que empaz descanse pero seguimos y soy tornero de la vieja guardia como tú es una profesión muy bonita hacemos puro jale de Chrysler desde hace casi 30 años saludos hermano
Really cool place. Lots of big iron. A shop I worked at a few years ago have a couple of American Pacemakers (war era). Best lathes in the house. Real workhorses!
Great share, thanks so much! A place I worked at years ago in Greencastle Pennsylvania called Beck manufacturing, they had several of the double headed pipe threaders and such. Strictly a pipe and nipple manufacturing operation, at least 20 years ago anyhow. Just figured I'd mention but it was actually a grueling repetitive job lol. Can't say I miss that but I do miss my machining experiences setting up the Mazak M1 I believe it was. Only held one program at a time but otherwise it was a good girl. Just the way it was designed. Later ran the M5 but only as a reliable operator. Now days it's just me and my Chinese Cummins 7x14 mini lathe down in the shop, have a drill press too that counts 🤣🤔.
ahhh glad you got to go before the change that happened. they now use oil burners instead of coal. they changed due to the risk of fire. Love riding that train.
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.
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!
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.
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!!
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.
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
You're 90 years old? Impressive!
Amazing to see the machinery that helped to build this country. 👍🏼
sad there is not more people working with them
Dezfan
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Abby has a good eye for composition and light, the photos at the end are great.
Thank you John & Adam. Much appreciated.
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.
Why are the machinists on the railroad the best???
They get the most TRAINing 😉👍
The Construct has been Engineered to Rail against Mishaps.
Superior Training.
No impasse can stall the weighty loads bearing down on that Track.
2 Green Lights.
Bam Dad Joke. This is a great content comment.
A true Railroad Machinist serves 1004 days as an apprentice (slightly over 4 years) before becoming a Journeyman. Mine was recorded with the Department of Labor, apprenticeship standards in Washington DC when I become a rookie journeyman machinist over 60 years ago.
However in today's world a Railroad Machinist Apprentice may only receive about 3 months in a machinist shop if the facility actually has a machine shop, most journeymen now are heavy diesel mechanics, working on locomotives, is now only a Craft name from the days of steam.
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.
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! 👍🏻🥃
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.
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.
Wow! Thanks Adam and Mrs., that was a real treat.
Hey this is an awesome vid. I got stuck in Durango about 9 years ago when my Harley had the exhaust crack. Luckily the master welder on the railroad was able to fix it, but it gave my dad and I a day to explore the city. I wish I could have gone in and saw the machine shop.
Fantastic video! Iron, steel, brass and bronze. Lots of oil! And little if any plastic! Thanks Abby, Adam and John!
Makes me homesick for Colorado. Never rode that train but spent a lot of time in the montains all over the state.
That was a real "SHOP TOUR"... Great to see the heavy metal in use....! Great Job...!
Yes much different than that disaster shop he and kieth toured that looked more like a dungeon
I love trains. It's one of the reasons I became a machinist!
Are you a railroad machinist?
I build and drive steam locomotives as a hobby. I own 2 live steam locomotives. One for 7½" gauge & another I'm building for 4¾" gauge.
Professionally, I do CNC machining for a small company.
@@REV_O1 that's awesome. I'm currently getting my associates degree in manual and cnc machining
From North Alabama, we rode one of these trains about 4 years ago and we really enjoyed it..! Thanks for the “background “ tour..!
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.
Adam, you simply MUST take the pilgrimage to Cheyenne and meet Ed Dickens and his Team.
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.
Thanks for taking us along on the tour and thanks to John for showing you around!
Wow! I lived in and around Durango and LaPlata County for 30 years, but never got to see the machine shop at the DNS RR. I have to watch it on You Tube from Abom! Great!! Great pictures. You have to remember that they have to make all their own parts; you can't just go to the local locomotive retail store and pick them up!
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...
“We have this 300t homemade wheel press”
Abom: Meh.
Also Abom: Look at this bench vice!
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
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.
I like the way they had fun and kidded him during the interview.
Enjoyed the video, spent 4 years in the NAVY part of it was on a repair ship out of Norfolk Va. USS VULCAN (AR5), worked in the machine shop and identified numerous machines we also had. Our "BEAST" was a 72" KING VTL that was built into the shop, part of the ship was also the top rail, man that was a monster. Also had a ROCKFORD 144" Open Side Planer, several NILES and a couple of BULLARD VTL's and 2 big Horizontal Boring Mills. Great that you could get into the shop and your tour guide was very informative. Again, GREAT VIDEO!
Rode the train with my daughter a few years ago love from England
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.
Can you email me a pic if you find one at Latetractor@gmail.com Thank you.
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.
Great video and still photos. Two things I love machine tools and steam trains.
Boy.....this bring back memories. Got something in my eye.....
My grandfather, a retired machinist, and myself road the Durango and Silverton in '79.
Many of those babies i did my apprentice ship on. Working 72 hour work weeks. Repairing steel mill roller shafts n bearing blocks- 2,000 lbs each casting. Bored on the vbm and outside on open sided planer. Set up tools 12lb sledge hammer and 6' pry bar. Worked our butts off but id do it all over again. Learned a lot from those old machinst n friends.
What a wonderful machine shop ,Not a CNC machine in sight .Love to see those big wheel lathes in use some time.Please go back again Adam .
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!!!
Pretty neat seeing the mechanisms behind the mechanisms.
Dude!!!! I love that train. Rode it as a kid. I grew up in those mountains and its just the prettiest place
mitch edgar I also rode it a couple times as a kid. I’m from Kansas and rode I twice growing up. I loved going to Silverton with my Dad. He would’ve thought this video was awesome.
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.
You need to try and check out the railroad machine shop in Jamestown California - all gold rush era machines that all still fully operate on a single live axle that runs down the middle of the shop.
Oh, suhweet!
Wow that brought back a ton of memory's when I was a working at SP as a machinist foreman.
I was born there in 1951. My mom and dad in 23 and 21. Still have a lot of family there. I have to ride the old D and RGW. every time I visit. one of those engines was made the year mom was born. My dad helped build the million dollar hiway,550 your route down the mountain after WW2. Enjoy your vids. very much. this one was special. Kinda like going home. I noticed the sign on the old Strater Hotel that was kinda cool too. No American lathes at my house. Have an old Hendey and a 17 inch Leblond Regal couple of mills and such to play with. Not too serious anymore. I have some fun . Really enjoy your videos. Dean Franks
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 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!
Had the pleasure of a trip on this line back in late 80s, I think was told they used a howitzer to clear avalanche threats. Was intrigued by the way the railroad was lashed with cable back to the pins at the cliffs. I did notice on the links to slide control a pan head coach bolt? I was a marine engineer and can't help noticing little inpefections. A great asset to have running, and for learning skills.
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.
I’ve been on that train. The scenery is just beautiful. Durango isn’t that far from were I live.
The heart and soul of American industrial might. God this is impressive.
Nice to see how they maintenance and rebuild everything. Massive machining!
I'll never understand why we have such short lives. There are so many things that I find interesting and wish I had to time to learn how to use. With the technology we have now it almost becomes possible to know nothing but still being able to do things we never imagined we could. Keep up the videos and teaching us all the things there are and possibilities there are for us in life.
She knows how to capture so much more in a picture.
That's awesome, I ran a big cnc gray vertical lathe some twenty years ago refurbishing 24" railroad wheels for support equipment
Magnificent country. I drove through and stayed in Ouray just beyond Silverton. Well worth the trip and Ouray is quaint and friendly.
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...
So glad you got to look through these shops Adam. So much awesome history....so lucky to check the machine shop out.
Nice to see a shop full of good old American iron, still being productive.
That American 48 (about 6:00) lathe with faceplate drive is the twin brother of the lathe I ran off and on for 15 years. Unstoppable. You could peel perfect tinfoil chips from cuts 3" wide on work 40" diameter. I bet I scored three dozen 30 and 70 ton winch drums on that lathe. Bored multi-start threads on breech rings timed to the cradle lug. I know I drove a million steam turbine buckets refurbing SSTG and main engine rotors. We had the motor arranged with a reversing contactor and a portable Start/Stop/Rev control station we could take right to the saddle. With a little practice, you could stop/jog/stop to 1/32" of the anchor hole in the winch drum.
And yes, it did railroad wheels too but I'd rather machine them on a VBM unless they're already on the axle.
Great machine but you'd better start the day with a good breakfast. The carriage traverse frequently broke down so you could sweat a shirt through on a cool day cranking the carriage back 12 feet. A manly lathe if ever there was one.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Super cool! I’ve always wanted to see a train museum and learn more about them. 👍👍
The power of steam, hope this workshop stays operational will into the future. Where I live it was shut down sold of all the tools and leveled 1988.
It serviced all the rail stock from the east to the west coast of Australia, made a lot of men cry that day.
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.
nice. i've been there once about 11 years ago. I would have loved a machine shop tour.
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.
I can SMELL that shop even from t'other side of The Pond!
Durango is one of my favorite mountain towns. Great historical station.
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.
I worked here for almost 4 years about 4 years ago as a machinist. It was a great place to learn to work with manual machines, (my favorite was the polish and quartering machine) the war baby Bullard is driven by a leather belt and the staples that keep it together was so rhythmic it had almost put me to sleep when turning the tires. The homemade machine he didn't show was an old lathe bed with an 8ft arm that pivots where the headstock would have been and a grinder on the other end to grind the radius in the radius arms (8ft-ish radius). The number of comments about the cleanliness of the shop is hilarious to me (and not surprising) and that was clean, machines were maintained decently but chip bins were usually half full and the floors were always dirty. There is a joke about how most machinists could not make it here (and after working in a "clean shop" most of the guys here would not like it there), also like John said in the summer your a mechanic first, machinist second, also no prints. I used an original print once to machine a cylinder head, most parts on the engines have been fixed so many times that an Original print would not work, you had to make your own. I now work at a machine shop a few miles away that has 4 CNC mills, 5 CNC lathes, and a handful of manuals. The DSNG has been coined the "training ground" for my current company because we have had over a dozen guys over 40 years start at the DSNG machine shop and move here. It was a huge shock to go from "dirt tolerance" (enough room for dirt to escape), to now I'm running a part with +0.0003, -0.0 diameter tolerance. I do miss the excitement in the summer running up and down the engines, working swing shift trying to keep those engines running.
What a great video! Saw things I wished to see my entire life. Thank you Adam.
Wonderful tour ..... enjoyed it very much.
If you are ever in the Boston area, check out the North Woburn Machine Co; in Woburn Ma. It is a machine/maintenance shop originating from the late 1800s .... a wonderful place to see old machines & tooling of the era used in support of the fledgling leather industry; you’d enjoy it. The place should be a museum!
Stay safe and sane!
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.
Man. That's one beautiful train station
Cumbres and Toltec is worth the price of admission too. Had a great ride, lunch, and the hospitality on the train was second to none, but I would recommend opting for the better car....There was only four of us in it and a waiter that couldn't keep our stuff full fast enough...It was awesome. Also got to tour the southern pacific centennial steam loco machine shop car. Had connections w/ the railroad police, so while everyone else got the "tourist" version, I got to see it all....
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.
Thanks for the video Abom,
I have ridden this train several times but wasn't fortunate to check out the machine shop. Nice tour.
Also if get a opportunity ride the steam train from Chama NM to Anonito CO it's well worth it. It's a beautiful ride especially with fall colors.
Henry Ford museum/Greenfield village in Dearborn MI has a awesome line shaft machine shop. Give yourself a couple days there.
I'm a train enthusiast as well as a professional machinist. What a great video. You can have your cake and eat it too!!
Thank you John.
Very nice of them to give you that shop tour. Thanks for the video Keep up the good work !!!!
Wow! What a special treat for you. A guided tour, and walk around of cool old building.
Thank you sir.
Here comes the Silverton up from Durango, here comes the Silverton a'shovelin' coal. Great vid!
Thank you, Adam your knowledge of old machines is amazing.
Have you thought about going to a shipyard and getting a tour of there shop be interesting g to see how ships propellers a made
Good idea, a little input from Keith Fenner would go a long way on that series.
Ever watched one of the old documentary films on UA-cam about how steam locomotives were made? Gigantic mills doing frames, huge drop forges, sandcast driver centers and cylinders, and always some musclebound old dude with a big mustache and a sledge hammer fine-tuning some white-hot bit of steel. :D
My new hometown as of July 2018. Never been in the machine shop, but have checked out the museum a few times. Rode the train last summer.
Adam , This is one of my favorite clips . Them bigger Carltons are a sweetheart to run and I am with you, that #3 Cincinnati Mill is a pull off 3/8" inch at a pass with coolant no problem, most folks have no idea how powerful that 50hp motor in them really are . That machine shop looked like home to me .
I love what the kid says. I'm not a fan of these big machines. Good job kid. Oh 🤔. Love it.
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.
Damn, why isn't there a double thumbs up button?
Thanks for the added tour to what and where they keep the trains running. That was an awesome video !!👍👍
Adam, that was an awesome show of the capabilities of the shop used to maintain those trains. I grew up in Colorado Springs and rode the DSNGRR once in the early 80s when my dad and I would go out that way to ride dirt bikes on 4wd trails there. I was out there 2 summers ago on my Harley and took a photo in front of the terminal but didn't have the time to ride the train, although with covid and forest fire prevention, they weren't even running all the way to Silverton from Durango.
Saludos carnal te sigo desde hace 3 años es mi canal favorito tengo 33 años pero me enseñe en el taller de mi papá que empaz descanse pero seguimos y soy tornero de la vieja guardia como tú es una profesión muy bonita hacemos puro jale de Chrysler desde hace casi 30 años saludos hermano
So very cool how you can sniff out a Machine Shop and Abbie seems to enjoy it too.
Really cool place. Lots of big iron. A shop I worked at a few years ago have a couple of American Pacemakers (war era). Best lathes in the house. Real workhorses!
I rode this train as a kid! Wish I'd got to see the machine shop as a kid.
Great share, thanks so much! A place I worked at years ago in Greencastle Pennsylvania called Beck manufacturing, they had several of the double headed pipe threaders and such. Strictly a pipe and nipple manufacturing operation, at least 20 years ago anyhow. Just figured I'd mention but it was actually a grueling repetitive job lol. Can't say I miss that but I do miss my machining experiences setting up the Mazak M1 I believe it was. Only held one program at a time but otherwise it was a good girl. Just the way it was designed. Later ran the M5 but only as a reliable operator. Now days it's just me and my Chinese Cummins 7x14 mini lathe down in the shop, have a drill press too that counts 🤣🤔.
Very cool Adam, thanks man! Thanks to Abby as well.
Definitely worth the bus ride for the shop tour
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
ahhh glad you got to go before the change that happened. they now use oil burners instead of coal. they changed due to the risk of fire. Love riding that train.