Train Ride in the Mountains

Thursday we finally decided to risk the bad weather and ride the narrow gauge antique train from Durango through the Animas River Canyon to an old mining town of Silverton Colorado.  After reading the brochure and seeing the top speed of the train was 19 to 20 miles an hour we made the decision to take a “modern coach” up the mountain and the train down. 

This turned out to be a smart choice because the road the bus took up gave a totally different view of magnificent mountain vistas and fabulous homes up in the forests even with snow and clouds threatening. 

We saw a herd of cow elk grazing along the edge of the meadow and the trees which we pointed out to the greatly excited “tourons” on the bus with us.  Too far away for pictures but fun for people who don’t see that sort of sight regularly.

We got up to Silverton which would have been a ghost town except for the people the train drops off for a few hours to lunch and shop now that the silver mine is closed. 

The streets were dirt and the stores were a fascinating mix of junque and fancy jewelry.  We ate at a saloon type place with lots of mounted stuffed animals and funny signs on the walls and a huge fireplace which we smartly sat right up next to because it started snowing while we were eating.

We enjoyed the train ride back down the canyon.  Even though it was FREEZING Dad of course rode part of the way out in the open air car with side facing seats to get better pictures.

I was the one who forced this trip onto our schedule because my Grandpa Herron was a railroad engineer so the train was fascinating to me. 

A view along the Animas River.

Bending around a corner.

In this one you can see the kayakers if you look carefully down in the bottom pool.  The train actually stops along the way and picks up rafters and they deflate the rafts and put them on a "gear car" on the train.  They do the same for hikers and campers as the season warms up.

 We were glad we took the ride – the scenery was beautiful and the weather just got better as the day went on. We also enjoyed a bit of nostalgia at the railroad museum while we were waiting to leave.