Dan Silbaugh
@dsilbizzy.bsky.social
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.
Clearly Creek County, here.
November 12, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Clearly Creek County, here.
Central Colorado!
November 12, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Central Colorado!
Who still plays with trains? Yep. I do!
Finished making a bracket for the firing g valve handle. Fly cut a surface on the angle steel, bored out a hole for the shaft, and generally made it WAAAAY fancier than it needs to be. But I like it. Nobody will ever see it, but it’s cool.
Finished making a bracket for the firing g valve handle. Fly cut a surface on the angle steel, bored out a hole for the shaft, and generally made it WAAAAY fancier than it needs to be. But I like it. Nobody will ever see it, but it’s cool.
November 11, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Who still plays with trains? Yep. I do!
Finished making a bracket for the firing g valve handle. Fly cut a surface on the angle steel, bored out a hole for the shaft, and generally made it WAAAAY fancier than it needs to be. But I like it. Nobody will ever see it, but it’s cool.
Finished making a bracket for the firing g valve handle. Fly cut a surface on the angle steel, bored out a hole for the shaft, and generally made it WAAAAY fancier than it needs to be. But I like it. Nobody will ever see it, but it’s cool.
Another pretty fun day for me. At work, with a layover in Anchorage, so I ran up to Wasilla and put in a day of work on 557. Today I used the mill to make a throttle lock (so it can be locked closed when she it at rest), and the lathe to make a pin to hold it in place on the throttle.
October 25, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Another pretty fun day for me. At work, with a layover in Anchorage, so I ran up to Wasilla and put in a day of work on 557. Today I used the mill to make a throttle lock (so it can be locked closed when she it at rest), and the lathe to make a pin to hold it in place on the throttle.
Who still plays with trains? Me. I do.
October 19, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Who still plays with trains? Me. I do.
Breaking: Middle aged man still plays with trains!
Got interviewed for a short film, saw a rainbow, and finished mounting the throttle body into the steam dome.
Got interviewed for a short film, saw a rainbow, and finished mounting the throttle body into the steam dome.
September 21, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Breaking: Middle aged man still plays with trains!
Got interviewed for a short film, saw a rainbow, and finished mounting the throttle body into the steam dome.
Got interviewed for a short film, saw a rainbow, and finished mounting the throttle body into the steam dome.
Who was playing with trains today? Hint: it’s me!
Fabricated a new throttle valve bracket (attaches to studs inside the steam dome). This weekend we should mount the throttle valve assembly. Old, gross, booger welded junk that came out of this locomotive also pictured for comparison.
Fabricated a new throttle valve bracket (attaches to studs inside the steam dome). This weekend we should mount the throttle valve assembly. Old, gross, booger welded junk that came out of this locomotive also pictured for comparison.
September 16, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Who was playing with trains today? Hint: it’s me!
Fabricated a new throttle valve bracket (attaches to studs inside the steam dome). This weekend we should mount the throttle valve assembly. Old, gross, booger welded junk that came out of this locomotive also pictured for comparison.
Fabricated a new throttle valve bracket (attaches to studs inside the steam dome). This weekend we should mount the throttle valve assembly. Old, gross, booger welded junk that came out of this locomotive also pictured for comparison.
Just a cool little Gentian! We saw quite a bit last week backpacking the CDT. Don’t think we saw it below 11,300’ MSL or so, but it sure was pretty!
September 4, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Just a cool little Gentian! We saw quite a bit last week backpacking the CDT. Don’t think we saw it below 11,300’ MSL or so, but it sure was pretty!
Haha! It’s a good question. I tend to work one long trip per month, so when I’m off for a few weeks I get to play trains a lot! I also visit trains when I’m at work. I kind of bid overnights just for the trains (like these).
September 4, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Haha! It’s a good question. I tend to work one long trip per month, so when I’m off for a few weeks I get to play trains a lot! I also visit trains when I’m at work. I kind of bid overnights just for the trains (like these).
Playing with trains yet again today! New addition to Como: Board member Tom Lawson’s Plymouth critter has arrived! It’s so cute! But it will make moving rolling stock around much, much easier!
September 4, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Playing with trains yet again today! New addition to Como: Board member Tom Lawson’s Plymouth critter has arrived! It’s so cute! But it will make moving rolling stock around much, much easier!
Haha! I appreciate that. One of these days I need to figure out a way to do more detailed steam locomotive maintenance posts. It’s interesting stuff! Speaking of which….
Still playing with trains last Saturday! Rolled her out into the sun and found out how odd mud ring stud sizes are!
Still playing with trains last Saturday! Rolled her out into the sun and found out how odd mud ring stud sizes are!
September 2, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Haha! I appreciate that. One of these days I need to figure out a way to do more detailed steam locomotive maintenance posts. It’s interesting stuff! Speaking of which….
Still playing with trains last Saturday! Rolled her out into the sun and found out how odd mud ring stud sizes are!
Still playing with trains last Saturday! Rolled her out into the sun and found out how odd mud ring stud sizes are!
No cheating. Post the last picture you took of your pet.
August 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
No cheating. Post the last picture you took of your pet.
Played with trains a lot this weekend! Boreas Pass Railroad Day was yesterday in Como. So on Friday we pulled the locomotive out of the roundhouse, and yesterday I spent all day talking to people about the locomotive and the rebuild process, even out on my South Park Rail shirt to talk to folks.
August 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Played with trains a lot this weekend! Boreas Pass Railroad Day was yesterday in Como. So on Friday we pulled the locomotive out of the roundhouse, and yesterday I spent all day talking to people about the locomotive and the rebuild process, even out on my South Park Rail shirt to talk to folks.
#internationalcatday from George the station cat??? How about this enigma of a Dirt? They showed up at the Como Roundhouse for a marathon that was ending at the roundhouse, and escorted every runner he could across the finish line. Haven’t seen him since that weekend….
August 9, 2025 at 12:08 AM
#internationalcatday from George the station cat??? How about this enigma of a Dirt? They showed up at the Como Roundhouse for a marathon that was ending at the roundhouse, and escorted every runner he could across the finish line. Haven’t seen him since that weekend….
Today was another one spent playing with trains! Big stuff, all that running gear work we did turned out to be right. My cruiser pulled her in and out of the roundhouse really easily (5 years ago we needed the winch, and it was working hard), which is good because in two weeks there’s a party.
August 3, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Today was another one spent playing with trains! Big stuff, all that running gear work we did turned out to be right. My cruiser pulled her in and out of the roundhouse really easily (5 years ago we needed the winch, and it was working hard), which is good because in two weeks there’s a party.
Trains again today! How’s that for a cutie little Porter Mogul? I’m told there’s a Brooks Mogul a few hours north of here that should be a pretty solid match for the South Park Brooks Moguls. I really need to work my schedule to get there though.
They do railroad museums right here!
They do railroad museums right here!
July 26, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Trains again today! How’s that for a cutie little Porter Mogul? I’m told there’s a Brooks Mogul a few hours north of here that should be a pretty solid match for the South Park Brooks Moguls. I really need to work my schedule to get there though.
They do railroad museums right here!
They do railroad museums right here!
The mud ring studs, did not play nicely that day.
….but they did this past weekend! Where I was naturally playing with trains again.
….but they did this past weekend! Where I was naturally playing with trains again.
July 22, 2025 at 1:39 AM
The mud ring studs, did not play nicely that day.
….but they did this past weekend! Where I was naturally playing with trains again.
….but they did this past weekend! Where I was naturally playing with trains again.
Playing with trains today! Weather is nice, and hopefully the mud ring studs play nice too! 😂. They were torched off who knows how long ago, so I’m hoping to extract them cleanly so we can put them back into service.
July 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Playing with trains today! Weather is nice, and hopefully the mud ring studs play nice too! 😂. They were torched off who knows how long ago, so I’m hoping to extract them cleanly so we can put them back into service.
Did I play with trains today? Kind of. I played with a machine that we use to play with trains. (Finished adding a DRO to the Bridgeport, and fabricated a custom work holder to bore some holes on the main rods soon)
July 3, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Did I play with trains today? Kind of. I played with a machine that we use to play with trains. (Finished adding a DRO to the Bridgeport, and fabricated a custom work holder to bore some holes on the main rods soon)
Still playing with trains! Today we hung the left side connecting rods for likely the final time. Shims all installed, tapered holes reamed, tapered bolts manufactured, and all installed!
On to the main rods!
On to the main rods!
June 22, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Still playing with trains! Today we hung the left side connecting rods for likely the final time. Shims all installed, tapered holes reamed, tapered bolts manufactured, and all installed!
On to the main rods!
On to the main rods!
Nederland, CO. Easily 10-1 support for us, to the very small number of grumpy, unhappy looking dudes that gave us the finger of meekly said “Go Trump.”
June 14, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Nederland, CO. Easily 10-1 support for us, to the very small number of grumpy, unhappy looking dudes that gave us the finger of meekly said “Go Trump.”
45 years old. Playing with trains! Getting the right side connecting rod installed was a big, months long job. Machining, teaming tapered holes, making tapered bolts, etc. and it went together in 15 minutes no sweat.
June 8, 2025 at 12:31 AM
45 years old. Playing with trains! Getting the right side connecting rod installed was a big, months long job. Machining, teaming tapered holes, making tapered bolts, etc. and it went together in 15 minutes no sweat.
Do wild Orchids in CO count? We found these along with Morels on our property today.
June 1, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Do wild Orchids in CO count? We found these along with Morels on our property today.
Still playing with trains! Boiler work is much more fun when it’s empty inside.
May 24, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Still playing with trains! Boiler work is much more fun when it’s empty inside.