Up early to catch the train. It’s 45 miles from Durango (~7000 ft) to Silverton (~9500 ft), and the train takes two hours and 45 minutes. The route follows the Animus river, through the broad valley north of Durango, through a breath-taking gorge, and into the high San Juan mountains. When I parked the truck at the train station, the parking attendant walked over and complemented my by saying “You’re the only person this morning who didn’t need me to tell them how to back into the parking space.” Not exactly the kind of compliment I’m used to getting ;-)
The train ride is nothing short of spectacular. In places the left side of the rail car is only eight inches from the cliff face, and at other places, the rail car overhangs the cliff edge. The ride is rough, after all it’s a narrow-gauge railway built in the 1880s to haul silver ore out of the mountains and haul supplies in for the miners. The railway is the oldest continuously operating rail line in the US. Even after the end of the mining era, and before the tourist era, the railway ran trains to deliver supplies and mail to the many ranches and small settlements along the line. The train still stops if passengers or mail are waiting at any of the several “whistle stops” along the route. We stopped to pick up a group of ski-hikers on their way out of the back country.
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge RR in the Animus River Canyon
It was cold and drizzling in Silverton when we arrived. I thanked my late wife Lynne again for my REI fleece sweater. I’ve lived in that thing for years, and it keeps going! I escaped the cold into the only brewpub in town. The Gold Block Brewing Co is a nice pub with competent beers and OK food. A nice porter and a good red. I had a nice lunch and a couple of beers before wandering around town and catching the bus back to Durango.
Silverton CO Congregational Church and Rectory
Silverton City Hall