We arrived in Durango, CO on Sunday afternoon, and after we got settled and greeted more RV friends, Carol & Lee, we sat down to wait to see the trains returning from Silverton. The narrow gauge tracks of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad ran right through our RV Park.
On Monday morning we drove into town to catch the 9 AM train. The railroad has seven steam engines built in the 1920’s. They weigh between 127 tons and 143 tons and develop approximately 1200 horsepower. The track was built in 1881 – 1882 as a narrow gauge branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to serve the gold and silver mining communities in western Colorado.
On the way to Silverton, we waved at our motorhomes in the park. The ride was great! We sat in one of two open cars so that we could see all the sights. It was a bit cool when we left, but we dressed in layers, so we were pretty comfortable. 
The tracks follow the Animas River all the way to Silverton. Although for most of the trip, the river was alongside the tracks, we went through a canyon with the tracks cut into the side of the canyon and the river far below us. 
The aspen trees were showing their fall colors which were a brilliant yellow.
Once we arrived in Silverton, we wandered down the one paved street to find lunch.
We found it at “Mad Momma’s Pies”. It was a real mom & pop place, with pop behind the counter and mom delivering orders. The food was great, especially the pies. After lunch the girls went shopping and the guys found the local brewpub and rested.
The train pulled out about 2 ½ hours after we arrived, and the trip back to Durango was uneventful…until we stopped to check a “hot box”. That meant a bearing in a wheel & axle overheated and started smoking. The engineer, fireman, conductor and a brakeman all got off to try to fix it.
They worked at it for about 45 minutes, then decided they couldn’t fix it, so we traveled slowly down the track to a siding where they could drop the car. All the passengers from that car squeezed into the remaining cars for the rest of the trip.
Since we were almost two hours late getting back to Durango, the train stopped behind a hotel next to our RV Park to let passengers off. Several in our group have dogs that needed to be let out of their RV’s, so they got off and three of us rode the train into town to retrieve the cars.
We were planning on going out for our Anniversary dinner that evening, but with the late arrival, we had sandwiches in the motorhome, instead. Oh well, we’ll just move the celebration a day or two. It had been a real fun day, even with the delay on the ride home.
From here, it’s off to Farmington, NM for five days at an RV Rally.
On Monday morning we drove into town to catch the 9 AM train. The railroad has seven steam engines built in the 1920’s. They weigh between 127 tons and 143 tons and develop approximately 1200 horsepower. The track was built in 1881 – 1882 as a narrow gauge branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to serve the gold and silver mining communities in western Colorado.
On the way to Silverton, we waved at our motorhomes in the park. The ride was great! We sat in one of two open cars so that we could see all the sights. It was a bit cool when we left, but we dressed in layers, so we were pretty comfortable. 
The tracks follow the Animas River all the way to Silverton. Although for most of the trip, the river was alongside the tracks, we went through a canyon with the tracks cut into the side of the canyon and the river far below us. 
The aspen trees were showing their fall colors which were a brilliant yellow.Once we arrived in Silverton, we wandered down the one paved street to find lunch.
We found it at “Mad Momma’s Pies”. It was a real mom & pop place, with pop behind the counter and mom delivering orders. The food was great, especially the pies. After lunch the girls went shopping and the guys found the local brewpub and rested.The train pulled out about 2 ½ hours after we arrived, and the trip back to Durango was uneventful…until we stopped to check a “hot box”. That meant a bearing in a wheel & axle overheated and started smoking. The engineer, fireman, conductor and a brakeman all got off to try to fix it.
They worked at it for about 45 minutes, then decided they couldn’t fix it, so we traveled slowly down the track to a siding where they could drop the car. All the passengers from that car squeezed into the remaining cars for the rest of the trip.Since we were almost two hours late getting back to Durango, the train stopped behind a hotel next to our RV Park to let passengers off. Several in our group have dogs that needed to be let out of their RV’s, so they got off and three of us rode the train into town to retrieve the cars.
We were planning on going out for our Anniversary dinner that evening, but with the late arrival, we had sandwiches in the motorhome, instead. Oh well, we’ll just move the celebration a day or two. It had been a real fun day, even with the delay on the ride home.
From here, it’s off to Farmington, NM for five days at an RV Rally.
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