The primary reason we came to Durango was to ride the scenic Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. From their magazine: “… the D&SNGRR was voted One of the World's Top Ten Most Exciting Train Rides by the Society of American Travel Writers in 2008 and the Number One North American Train Trip by National Geographic Traveler in 2010!”
Ken tried to talk me into a combination train ride up and raft trip down (the Animas) but I was concerned about the water temperatures. (I’m a wimp about cold water.) As it turns out, the heat followed us out of Phoenix and some cold water would have felt good. In any event, I opted for the train up and back. They were offering a new service with narration by costumed historical characters – a different character up and back. I’m a sucker for stories so that’s what we did.
Since we didn’t care for the free hotel breakfast, we arrived early at the station and had breakfast at the nearby Mickey D’s with a side of internet. There was still plenty of time when we were done so we wandered about a bit and got us a nice position to photograph the earlier train as it left the station.
After the train was gone, we headed back to prepare ourselves for our departure. Easily led astray, Ken got sidetracked by a couple of ladies from the Durango Melodrama who were touting their play for that evening. (At that point I was interested, but when we got back that evening, I was exhausted. So, no play.) After that tête-à-tête, we boarded our coach and were given the safety and orientation lecture by the conductor.
As I mentioned above, we had chosen to take the narrated trip. Our guide on the way up to Silverton was Chipeta, the wife of Ouray, a chief of the Utes at the time the railroad was built. She was a very engaging person but unfortunately suffered from lack of knowledge about the railroad’s history and awareness of where we were on the route. (Fairly new to the area and only second time riding the train. Plus we were first audience.) Once she gets past these humps, however, I think she will be a very good narrator.
Our narrator on the trip back to Durango was General William Jackson Palmer, a co-founder of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad – which became the Denver & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in 1981. He was another very engaging person – I guess you have to be if you want this job – and he knew the region’s and railroad’s histories very well. He was also able to answer questions about things we saw along the way. I was rather sorry we hadn’t gotten him in the morning when we were fresher and more eager to find things out. But he had the advantage over Chipeta in that he had played this part before (I don’t remember for what) and was a long time resident. Chipeta will eventually get there.
When we got into Silverton, we went to the Bent Elbow for lunch (an open faced grilled vegetable sandwich for me – very good. I forgot what Ken got but he wasn’t as impressed.) Then we wandered around exploring Silverton until it was time to take the train back to Durango. The first four pictures are on Blair St outside the Bent Elbow looking in the four directions, the rest are around Silverton.
Except for the better narration, the train ride back wasn’t nearly as much fun. The views were still excellent, we were just tired. We went directly back to our hotel, downloaded the cameras to our computers and then argued mildly about supper. It was later than I really like to eat by then and I didn’t want a big meal. We settled on going to the Old Tymers Café where I had a bowl of green chili and pork soup. Very good.
Here are some views from the rides up and back. The Animas river was a constant companion – the one I declined rafting down. My mistake. In the third photo, the water tank is being refilled. Back country hikers are either being picked up or dropped off at Needleton in the fifth photo. And Ken got a good rainbow shot when the train vented some steam.
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