Native Writes: Railroad’s going, going gone

It’s sad to see the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad yielding to the errors of its spawn.

In the railroad’s more than 100 years of service, there have been many ups and downs, mostly due to the changing times. The little engines that could did what was called of them.

At one time, one could travel almost anywhere in the Valley by rail. It was inexpensive and sometimes dirty, but it helped us travel.

When my eldest son and I took a trip west by rail several years ago, I found myself laughing when I saw a couple of flatcars loaded with empty semi truck trailers parked on a siding. My oldest son asked what was funny and I took him back to the 1950s when the freight trains stopped hauling wares into the Valley. The trucks were blamed.

Sometimes the irony of history occasions laughter.

One of the first sounds I remember was the sound of the trains as they hauled people into and out of Alamosa.

The sound of a steam engine in operation still opens my memory bank.

Some of my friends lived in railroad housing and shift workers spent time in yellow shacks in the yards. It was a simple time when children played, adults worked and the sounds of the huge brick shops commonly punctuated the noise of life in general.

I still remember the days when small towns along the rails boasted beautiful hotels and fine dining. We haven’t done well at recreating that image.

We haven’t capitalized well on the moving trade.

When I was younger, a favorite place for my parents and some relatives was the Saguache Hotel.

The Palace Hotel in Antonito clung to its past for a long while, yet yielded to time and the changing world.

Fire leveled much of the rest, but some art galleries and businesses are rising from the ashes.

As an “old timer,” I love talking about what was then and what is now, but dread thinking of what will never be again.

Once in a while we disagree and it becomes part of lifelong learning.

Watching the changing of time in the courtroom adds to it.

I seldom use my research accounts to follow receiverships, but I will follow the railroads.

As a taxpayer, I worry about fiscal losses to our communities, but as a person who has watched transportation history transpire, I weep at what’s going, going, gone.