We rode the Durango & Silverton Scenic railroad today. The route was originally opened in 1882 to transport silver and gold ore mined from the San Juan Mountains. The line from Durango to Silverton is 45.2 miles and has run continuously since 1881, although it is now a tourist and heritage line hauling passengers It is one of the few places in the U.S. which has seen continuous use of steam locomotives powered by coal. The railroad is considered a narrow gauge railroad, which means that the rails are 3-ft. apart. The narrow gauge works much better for trains that need to climb a hill and make sharp turns. After riding the train I can understand why it was built as a narrow gauge. The elevation change was about 2800-ft and the track had fairly sharp turns. The entire trip took about 10 hours, with about a 2 hour layover in Silverton. The weather was a little chilly in the morning, but it was perfect in the afternoon.
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| The Durango & Silverton Train. We were in one of the last cars. |
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| Hopefully the train stays on the track |
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| Remnants of a silver mine |
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| Our train engineer |
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| Downtown Silverton |
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| We ate lunch at Handlebars Food and Saloon. The train quits running on October 30th. Ninety percent of the stores in Silverton will also close after October 30th, including this restaurant. |
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