As Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad convoys rattle out of Durango, through the Animas Valley and into canyon country, passengers invariably have questions – What are those flowers? What’s the name of that mountain? How fast are we traveling?
But scenery isn’t the only thing on some minds. Just recently riders began to ask about recreational marijuana in Durango.
On hand with answers are members of the Rail Rangers, a cadre of volunteers garbed in distinctive green vests. They’re repositories of knowledge about the history, trees and plants, wildlife, geology, climate and ecology of the immediate region and beyond.
They work under the auspices of the U.S. Forest Service.
“We try to accommodate people, so if we don’t have a ready answer, we’ll find it,” said Cindy Lathrop, who coordinates the scheduling of the rangers. “We leave technical questions about the train itself to the conductor and brakeman.”
The Rail Rangers, formed about 11 years ago, have about 25 volunteers on the rolls at any given time. Many members are retirees.
Among their ranks are a retired Air Force pilot, a mining historian, four educators, an astrophysicist, a chemist, a geologist and a writer/editor.
Each is asked to commit to four days on the Durango-Silverton run, which is May through October. Weekends are not covered, nor are winter outings to the Cascade Wye. Lathrop estimates she pulls duty three times a month.
One ranger works each weekday. When D&SNG runs two trains per day, the ranger rides north on the second one and returns on the first. When there are three trains, the ranger goes up on No. 3 and returns on No. 2.
Rangers are recruited largely through word of mouth.
Sharing stories, knowledge
Among the points of interest that rangers don’t fail to mention is a spot north of Rockwood where a scene from the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was filmed.
In the scene, the antiheroes, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, respectively, appear to leap from the lip of a gorge into the churning Animas River.
Not quite. Through the magic of cinematography, the scene also was filmed in Hollywood, leading to some wag’s observation that “they jumped in Colorado but landed in California,” Lathrop said.
Lathrop also mentions the 1956 movie “Around the World in 80 Days” starring David Niven to British riders when the train enters a narrow part of the canyon with sheer walls. A papier-mâché roof was put over a portion of the chasm during the filming to create a tunnel.
Each Rail Ranger has a personal approach to engaging the passengers, Lathrop said. As she passes from car to car, Lathrop addresses the audience in general and says that she’s available for questions.
Stephen Studebaker, who was the ranger on the rails Friday , likes to strike up a conversation with an individual or couple.
As the train trundled through the Animas Valley on Friday, Studebaker, retired from 32 years in public education and 16 years as a seasonal ranger with the National Park Service, pointed to Missionary Ridge and described the 2002 wildfire, which ravished most of 72,000 acres, and the tent city created at the La Plata County Fairgrounds to house firefighters and support personnel.
He also called attention to colonies of Gunnison prairie dogs taking the sun at the mouth of the tunnel to their nest. They’re despised by ranchers but supported by others as an integral part of the ecosystem, Studebaker said.
Trent Perlman, 5, who is visiting from Phoenix with mom, Karen Perlman, and brother, Mark, 4, commented animatedly about the prairie dogs colonies. But he was fascinated with the train.
“This is my first big steam train,” said Trent, who regularly rides a miniature steam train in Phoenix, which has two railroad parks.
“He’s obsessed with trains,” his mother said.
Some questions must be researched, Lathrop said. If a question concerns an object seen along the way – a flower or a geological formation – it may be too late to get an answer immediately. The ranger will get a telephone number or email address to send an answer.
The birth of the rangers
No. 1 ranger is Trish Pegram, a retired in-house bank attorney from North Carolina who wanted more than a desk job when she moved to Durango in 1999. She was a volunteer for the U.S. Forest Service when Tracey McInerney, the coordinator of volunteers in the old Animas Ranger District, conceived of a body of volunteers who would ride the train to answer questions for tourists.
“We had a captive audience for four hours,” said Jed Botsford, who works in Forest Service recreation and oversees the program now. “We figured if we could educate the passengers about the area, it would be incredible.”
The rangers were born.
“I volunteered immediately,” Pegram said. “I like to talk to people who are interested in the place I love,”
Pegram said her particular field of interest are wildflowers, although she is familiar with the other subjects passengers ask about.
Charli Doubek, a teacher for 32 years in South Dakota, Missouri and Arizona, became a railroad buff as a child when she often rode the D&SNG.
“I love trains and I love nature,” Doubek said. “So being a Rail Ranger was a good fit.”
daler@durangoherald.com
