Eureka goes green. Eureka & Palisade #4 "Eureka" has a slightly different look to her excursion consist this day, as the folks from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad have temporarily replaced that super-bright yellow coach she normally hauls with one of the coaches that was painted D&RGW Green for the Railfest events in 2010 and 2011. Here, we catch her running north along U.S. 550, near MP 458.5, heading for a water stop at Hermosa, Colorado, about 4 miles ahead. From there, she'll tackle the 2.5% grade from Hermosa up to Rockwood, and then enter the wilderness of the Animas Canyon. Note that her tender here is piled high with wood. Her crew will endeavor to keep it that way, topping it off at every opportunity. For unlike a coal-burner, which can make the entire 90-mile round trip to Silverton without refueling, Eureka goes through her fuel supply very quickly and must stop at least a couple of times each way. I've seen her arrive in Silverton with just a couple slabs of wood on the floor of her tender, so yeah, they pile it as high as they can, whenever they can. Fortunately, the D&S folks positioned boxcars full of wood at a number of places along the line for the Railfest event, so Eureka's crew never needed to break out the chainsaw.
