Tackling the 2.5% at Hermosa
Denver & Rio Grande Western C-18 #315 starts her climb up the 2.5% grade just north of the US 550 crossing in Hermosa, CO (MP 462.8), hauling a short photo freight bound for Silverton, during the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's 2010 "Railfest" event. While most photographers seem to prefer to shoot the grade crossing a hundred yards or so to my left, I much prefer various angles on this hill, because it's the beginning of a tough, steady grade and you'll almost always get a great smoke plume from the locomotive here. In the years since the railroad converted all of their own steam locomotives to oil firing, this has become a favorite spot for the engine crews to sand the flues, producing some very impressive black clouds.
Tackling the 2.5% at Hermosa
Denver & Rio Grande Western C-18 #315 starts her climb up the 2.5% grade just north of the US 550 crossing in Hermosa, CO (MP 462.8), hauling a short photo freight bound for Silverton, during the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's 2010 "Railfest" event. While most photographers seem to prefer to shoot the grade crossing a hundred yards or so to my left, I much prefer various angles on this hill, because it's the beginning of a tough, steady grade and you'll almost always get a great smoke plume from the locomotive here. In the years since the railroad converted all of their own steam locomotives to oil firing, this has become a favorite spot for the engine crews to sand the flues, producing some very impressive black clouds.