Dan Silbaugh

@dsilbizzy.bsky.social

508 Followers 695 Following

Trains. Narrow Gauge steam. Ska. Industrial Trade Unionist. Mountains. Airplanes. Old Land Cruisers. #uglydogs Sled Dogs. Cats (especially our Feral little guy). Colorado resident. Born and raised New Mexican. Some Alaska too. Airline Pilot.

Forest lake, a high altitude lake near the continental divide in Gilpin county, CO. The water is insanely clear, and there are some coniferous trees on the surrounding hillsides. With one small patch of snow in the distance.
A smiling DSilbizzy wearing safety goggles a little Mohawk, and a t-shirt standing in front of the left side of a steam locomotive with the boiler bare for inspection.
A smiling DSilbizzy wearing blue overalls, safety glasses and a huge smile kneeling next to Klondike Mines 4, a narrow gauge 2-6-2 on a turntable being moved by a 25 ton Plymouth diesel locomotive which is painted green. KMR 4 (a steam locomotive) has a steady stream of water coming out of the left side blowdown valve, which just proves that the boiler is full of water.
A smiling DSilbizzy in the smokebox of a locomotive giving a thumbs up, showing the tube ends beaded over behind him.
A smiling guy with safety glasses and a little Mohawk inside the smokebox of a steam locomotive. With 100+ tubes beaded over.
6 volunteers using rail tongs to move a rail into position on freshly placed railroad ties in Como, CO. The sky is deep blue with just a few clouds. On the other side of the turntable is a boxcar awaiting restoration, and the locomotive’s tender.
Sunday shot of the front tube sheet about 1/2 full of tubes.
Smiling DSilbizzy with a Mohawk inside the firebox of a steam locomotive with a handful of tubes rolled into the rear flue sheet. Start the clock for 15 years for the next time we have to do all this again!
Smiling DSilbizzy with a medium sized Mohawk and safety glasses standing in front of a partially disassembled steam locomotive inside a roundhouse.
DSilbizzy with a little Mohawk and safety goggles standing outside in the rail yard in Como, CO with C&S boxcar 8311 in the background.
A smiling middle aged guy with a sweet Mohawk and safety glasses inside a steam locomotive boiler. Behind him is the rear tube sheet, with the crown sheet, stat bolts and water space around the firebox clearly visible.
The Como roundhouse at night, with bright stars and a clear sky. Taken from inside a sleeping bag with the feet of the sleeping bag visible.
A smiling DSilbizzy inside the cab of a 20 ton Plymouth diesel locomotive, stopped while Sam flips a switch and closes a gate.
A smiling DSilbizzy with safety glasses and a Mohawk points at the bed clamp and bar he just made for the lathe’s taper attachment.
A smiling DSilbizzy stands in front of the South Park Plymouth on the turntable in Como. Blue skies, a few snow capped peaks, and another volunteer walking in the background.
LeBlond Regal 19” lathe in the roundhouse in Como. Behind it is a Bridgeport knee mill.
Smiling DSilbizzy standing in front of a log truck loading medium sized (for Colorado) Doug fir logs to take to Como.
A smiling DSilbizzy with a real nice Mohawk stands in front of a stone roundhouse, with snow capped peaks in the distance.
A smiling DSilbizzy with mohawk and safety glasses in front of a Regal 19” lathe, inside a stone roundhouse.
A smiling DSilbizzy standing in front of a steam locomotive undergoing restoration.
A smiling DSilbizzy with a Mohawk stands in front of a decent sized lathe on a trailer, in front of the stone Como roundhouse. There is a little snow on the ground (about 1”) and the roundhouse doors are all closed.
A crooked smile from DSilbizzy with a gorgeous pink sunset over the South Park, with Kenosha Pass in the distance. In the foreground, there’s a turntable, and some railroad tracks. Twobold railroad cars are also in the background.
A smiling DSilbizzy standing in front of a partially disassembled steam locomotive undergoing a rebuild.
A smiling guy named Dan with safety glasses and a Mohawk standing in front of a boiler with a front tube sheet about to get welded in.
Middle aged guy with a small Mohawk, wearing safety glasses standing in front of a steam locomotive getting rebuilt.
A selfie of a middle aged buy smiling in front of Rio Grande Southern 20, at Cascade wye on the Durango & Silverton, wearing his late friend Dean’s denim jacket. Miss you Dean!
Just me standing in front of the Como roundhouse and turntable. Mountains of the South Park are in the background.
A middle aged guy wearing a work jacket and safety glasses points at a steam locomotive boiler, with two holes showing signs of leaking, and two studs below that showing no signs of leaking.
DSilbizzy pointing at the right side crosshead of a steam locomotive (Klondike Mines #4)
A smiling DSilbizzy pointing at the main rod installed on Klondike Mines 4, a 3’ gauge 2-6-2. Much of rest rest of the locomotive is partially disassembled.
Not enough Five Iron Frenzy. All the Hype, Between the Pavement and Stars, Until This Shakes Apart, and When They See you. That’s all that populates through iTunes today.
A kind of dirty DSilbizzy popping out of an oil bunker in a steam locomotive tender, with the steam locomotive in the background partially disassembled.
An old (16+ year old) kitty curled up in a heated kitty bed. Her fact is tucked into her tail, and she has wedged her body into one side of the kitty bed.
A mostly red aurora borealis with a green light along the horizon, and one brilliant green sheet low in the sky.
A log cabin backlit by a brilliant aurora borealis. Mostly red, with a few vertical red shafts, and a green band low along the horizon. 10/10 for northern lights viewing.
A middle aged DSilizzy standing in front of a partially disassembled steam locomotive, smiling. And wearing fancy new prescription safety glasses!
DSilbizzy (me) on the left side of a steam locomotive (Alaska 557) resting a hand on the oil quadrant, while Pat Durand sits in the engineer’s seat.
A smiling DSilbizzy standing in front of a partially disassembled narrow gauge locomotive.
DSilbizzy standing in front of a steam locomotive inside a stone roundhouse. The locomotive is partially disassembled as part of an extensive overhaul. There are cameras set up, to record an interview with the guy taking a selfie.
A smiling DSilbizzy inside the boiler of a steam locomotive.
Some Parry’s Gentian from the CDT last week.
A smiling guy in front of an 1880 Porter Mogul in Saitama, Japan.
A green and yellow Plymouth diesel locomotive site in from of a steam locomotive and tender inside a stone roundhouse. A smiling guy with a safety yellow “South Park Rail” shirt is in the immediate foreground.
A middle aged guy smiling with a “South Park Rail” safety shirt on, and small Mohawk for hair, and squinty eyes from the sun standing in front of a steam locomotive standing outside of the Como, CO roundhouse on a sunny day. The locomotive is Klondike Mines Railway 4, and she is in the middle of an extensive rebuild, so a lot of parts are not on the locomotive in the picture.
A black cat peeks out from inside a mushroom shaped kitty house.
A smiling guy in front of a partially disassembled steam locomotive in the high mountain town of Como, Colorado. Wearing a black T-shirt.
A black cat walking next to a picnic table, next to the Como Roundhouse. It was a very friendly cat, some say descended from Dirt, or the Nevada Northern (look it up!).
A smiling middle aged guy standing on top of a steam locomotive, with the steam dome and some stack behind him. Also two terrible kunkle safety valves, which don’t really belong on steam locomotives, but they are what was on it while we search for consolidated safeties.
A smiling guy in a Five Iron Frenzy T-shirt standing in front of a Porter Mogul in the Railroad museum, Saitama, Japan.
A smiling man with short hair and safety glasses standing in front of a somewhat disassembled steam locomotive. There are other people standing in the background who were also working on the locomotive.
A smiling guy in a UNM Lobos t-shirt stands in front of a 3’ gauge steam locomotive undergoing restoration.
A smiling guy standing in front of a Bridgeport vertical knee mill with a digital read out (DRO) and a lathe in the background.
A middle aged guy smiling next to a steam locomotive. Behind him is an installed connecting rod, representing months of work machining the brasses and shimming the brasses to make it have no clunks when it operates!
A smiling middle aged guy at the No Kings rally in Nederland, CO. People around a roundabout holding signs and a few American flags while cars and motorcycles go by. The guy is pointing at a much larger crowd down the highway from the roundabout.
A middle aged guy smiling and pointing at the connecting rod of a small steam locomotive. The connecting rod is shiny, and assembled with fancy tapered bolts and wedges.
A middle aged DSilbizzy, with short hair, clean shaven, and in a pilots uniform wearing a red “I’m All In” lanyard in a room with over 200 other pilots. The other pilots are listening to and asking questions of the MEC Chair and an NC member. 4 years of negotiations is too long! Just before this picture, we were all outside picketing the company headquarters.
A purple orchid flower opening up, against a background of pine needles and moss.
Middle aged guy with a big smile sitting inside a steam locomotive boiler, measuring the spacing of tubes on the firebox tube sheet.
Sunrise over the Needles, in Cantonlands National Park. Red rocks, with grey and white later mixed in aglow in the morning sun, with a green valley in the foreground still in shadow.
A middle aged guy smiling in front of an open roundhouse door, with a steam locomotive undergoing maintenance inside. Two men are putting a yellow hand cart back into the roundhouse, since it’s the end of the day.