Durango Part I: Durango & Silverton Railroad

Our last drive from Moab, UT to Cortez, CO was a short trip of only 2 1/2 hours, but the drive from Cortez to our next stop in Durango, CO was even shorter at just a little over an hour. We took our time getting underway, and we still arrived at Alpen Rose RV Park around noon.

Alpen Rose is located north of historic downtown Durango in a beautiful, wide valley lined with red cliffs. The campground is very well maintained and very well managed. It has wide, gravel roads; gravel pads; free Wi-Fi; cable TV; and full hookups. There is a section that is well-shaded, and the section where we were located for better satellite reception that has only a few smaller trees. The photo below is a view of our site at Alpen Rose.

The only drawback to Alpen Rose is they have side-by-side hookups. Side-by-side hookups make for close quarters on the driver's side of the RV; but if they are done right, they can make the living space on the door side of your RV more spacious. The space on the living side at Alpen Rose is pretty decent; however, you end up face to face with one of your neighbors, which means you have to share your living space. That's something Molly isn't too fond of. She figures anything she can see is her turf; and if someone (especially another dog) steps out their door right across from her door, she barks to let them know of her disapproval. But our first neighbors, who had a dog, were only there one night after we arrived; and the neighbors who replaced them were very friendly and even Molly seemed to accept them right away.

The primary reason for stopping in Durango was to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Narrow gauge means the rails are 42 inches or less apart while standard gauge rails are 56 1/2 inches apart. Standard gauge is based on the width of the track of Roman chariot wheels. Whatever Roman chariots have to do with railroads, we don't know. :) But that's supposedly where they came up with the dimension for the spacing between the rails. Durango & Silverton uses a gauge of 36 inches. The narrower spacing between the rails means the tracks can be built with tighter curves, which is substantially less expensive for mountainous terrain.

We enjoyed our trips last year on the Grand Canyon Railway and on the Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway. We like the atmosphere of the old trains and the sounds of the old steam locomotives make, especially the character of a real steam whistle that can't be matched by a diesel horn. We have heard and read a lot about Durango & Silverton Railroad, and so we had been looking forward to experiencing it.

The town of Durango was founded by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1880. The railway constructed a line to Silverton in 1881 to haul gold and silver ore. In fact, the railroad has carried over $300 million in precious metals. Today, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad carries approximately 200,000 passengers annually in vintage cars behind vintage steam locomotives. The railway has been in continuous operation for over 125 years.

In the summer, Durango & Silverton RR runs three trains daily from Durango to Silverton and back. The route takes you through scenic canyons along the Animas River and through wilderness areas in the San Juan Mountains.

Although we enjoyed the trip, we thought the ride was a little long at 3 1/2 hours each way. The route is only about 50 miles, but the train travels slowly and makes several stops along the way.

One thing that we could have done to reduce the travel time would have been to take the train one way and the bus the other. This would have reduced the travel time by at least an hour and a half, and it would have probably meant more comfortable seats on the bus. However, the train fare is already pretty expensive at $75 for adults, and taking the bus one way would have added between $12 and $17 each depending on whether you were taking the train up or back. Besides, the idea was to ride the train. We just didn't realize the trip would feel THAT long.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start the train ride from the beginning. We had to go into town to pick up our tickets the day before our scheduled trip. That also gave us the opportunity to get the "lay of the land" to find out where we were to board and where parking was located. While picking up the tickets, we noticed this sculpture in front of the station. The horses seem to all be looking right into the camera.

The building on the left is the train depot which looks about the same as when it was constructed in 1882. There is a hotel next door with beautiful flowers and patio dining.

We had tickets for the first train which departs at 8:15 AM. The railroad asks passengers to arrive a half an hour before the scheduled departure time. We arrived a little before that, so we had time to stop at Micky D's for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked next door to the station just in time to see the locomotive being backed in to hitch up to the rest of the train.

The train departed at 8:15 on the dot. The photo below shows the train a short distance outside town heading to Silverton.

As we got a little higher in the mountains, we caught some beautiful views of the Animas River like the one in the photo below. The tracks follow the river fairly closely all the way to Silverton.

As we mentioned, the train makes several stops along the route. One of the stops was at Soaring Tree Top Adventures. As the train approached the stop, one of the Soaring guides took off down a zip line while hanging upside down.

Soaring Tree Top Adventures features over one mile of zip lines strung among 32 platforms high in the tree tops. The only way to get to Soaring is by the Durango & Silverton Railroad. The adventure is a little expensive at $339 per person; but it includes round-trip train fare, 5 hours of zip line soaring with instruction and guides for the day, use of all necessary equipment, and a four-course gourmet lunch in the tree tops.

Another stop the train made was to take on water. The D&SNGRR uses 10,000 gallons of water per round-trip and 12,000 pounds of coal. The coal is shoveled into the firebox one shovelful at a time.

As we approached Silverton, at the base of a hillside there was an old mining structure that reveals Silverton's history of gold and silver mining.

The Silverton mining district was officially opened to miners in 1874 following the signing of a treaty with the Ute Indians. Two thousand men moved into the area that year. However, by 1875, there were only about 100 people living in the town of Silverton itself. The peak mining period was from 1900 to 1912. The population of the county in which Silverton is located peaked at about 5,000. The area boasted four railroads, three smelters, over thirty mills, and innumerable mines throughout the surrounding mountains.

Silverton is a Victorian town that sits in a valley in the San Juan Mountains at an altitude of over 9,000 feet. As you can see from the photo below, Silverton is fairly compact; and only one of the roads running through town is paved. It's the largest town we've ever been in that had not one traffic signal!

The train pulled into Silverton a little before noon. After we got off, we waited around a few minutes for the crowd to clear and got a good photo of the train.

And a fellow passenger took a shot of us in front of the locomotive.

There would be a little over a two-hour layover in Silverton allowing time to look around some of the shops and to grab a bite to eat. The train drops the passengers off on Blair Street which is where most of the restaurants are located. Blair Street was also the location of most of the saloons and brothels back in the old mining hay days. Even today, Blair Street is unpaved and retains that "rough and tough" feel.

The building in the photo below was built in 1888 and was the last operating brothel in Silverton. It closed in 1947. It is now the Shady Lady Restaurant and boasts root beer floats, home cookin', and family dining.

One block over on Greene Street, which is the only paved street in town, and on some of the connecting side streets, are numerous quaint shops selling Indian jewelry, gifts, art, T-shirts, and train memorabilia.

We walked most of Blair Street and up and down both sides of Greene Street. The photo below shows the courthouse on the far end of Greene Street.

The mountains around Silverton are pretty rugged, and we saw a lot of Jeeps and ATVs in town. The most interesting means of transportation we saw was this WWII half-track parked outside the Miners Tavern on Greene Street. It turns out the tavern was also the American Legion.

On the way back to the train, we stopped for some ice cream. It was quite warm In spite of the clouds, the threatening rain, and the altitude. Shortly after we got back to the train, the whistle blew, and we were underway.

The photo below shows an afternoon train leaving Silverton and heading down the valley toward Durango.

We were assigned seats on the left side of the train for both legs of the trip. Since the train is turned around after it gets to Silverton, we now got to see the view on the other side of the tracks. A little way from Silverton was this mountain view.

The views on the return trip were beautiful, even though we only caught a few glimpses of the sun on the way back. Here is another mountain scene.

The tracks cross the Animas River several times, so the river can be seen from either side of the train depending on where you are on the route.

There were quite a few rafters on the river.

The peak flow of the Animas River is in June and is 4 to 5 times what it was when we were there in August. The river a little to the south of Silverton at its peak flow is almost a continuous series of Class IV and V rapids and is home to kayak races during Animas River Days in late June. What is a fun ride for novices in August is best left only to the experts in June.

A little farther along, the river drops into a deep canyon and the tracks run right along the ledge of the cliff.

From the shot below, you can see how close the train is to the edge.

In our opinion, the better views are on the east side of the train (right side going up, left side returning). From our experience and from the experience of another RV couple who are work-camping in the area and whose blog we follow, clouds and thunderstorms frequently develop on summer afternoons in this part of Colorado, especially in the mountains. Even though the train gets turned around for the return trip and you get to see the views to both the east and to the west, we recommend trying to get seats on the right side going up because it is more likely to be cloudy or raining on the return trip.

We rode in a vintage coach, but there is also seating available in first-class parlor cars, in observation cars, and in open-sided cars. The open-sided cars provide a less obstructed view; however, keep in mind the possibility of rain (and, depending on the time of year, possible cool temperatures) when selecting the type of car you want.

A great service offered by Alpen Rose RV Park was dog walking if you were going to be away from the RV for an extended time. We were grateful to have this available. We're trying to keep Molly's bladder infections at bay by letting her out every 4 hours. We were concerned about leaving her for 10 hours. The lady who does the dog walking stopped by the night before to meet Molly and pick up the keys to the motor home. We ended up with a perfect solution. Carol was not intimidated by Molly's barking when she came to the door and quickly won Molly's trust. For $10, Carol came twice to let Molly out, giving us peace of mind on our all-day excursion. We also were gratified to hear that Molly was a model client. :)

Durango is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts; but even though we aren't into rock climbing, white water rafting, mountain biking, or fishing, there is still more to see and do in the area. We're off to do some exploring. Check back soon, and we'll let you know what we found.

Comments

[Steve Walden]

Thanks for the trip report! As a rail historian and a fan of narrow gauge and steam railroads, Durango has a very special spot in my heart. I don't get out there nearly as much as I wanted to. Our last trip with an RV, we stayed at the United Campground north of Durango. It was okay for our needs and given how beautiful the valley is, we really enjoyed it.

Please feel free to drop me a line or check out my blog on Colorado Railroads!