More from Silverton, Colorado…

As I mentioned last time, Silverton is a really neat town. The RV parks have all the normal services you would want, the view all around the valley the town is in is spectacular, and there are many services you might need for a visit. Including hotel rooms, restaurants, bars and the like. I really enjoyed it here. But the reason for my visit was to take the Durango & Silverton Railroad trip down to Durango. It’s a narrow gauge RR. You can catch the train in Durango but it seemed like it would be more interesting for me to do the trip the other way around. I’d stumbled onto this train trip on-line when using my mapping program to look for places to go after visiting Aztec. My mapping program showed it and since it was so close…

During my wanders around Silverton, I’d stopped at the RR station and asked the nice lady about the various offerings for a ride. Everything could be arranged on-line but I just could not figure out there what I wanted to do. Go visit their web site and click on ‘Book Now’ and you’ll see that they have soooo many options that you kind of need to talk to someone. Anyway, with her help, I figured it out and bought a one way train ticket to Durango, (bus return to Silverton). She told me that Presidential class was sold out so I ordered a 1st class ticket ($175 vs. $189 for the Presidential class). The trip was for the next day. When the time came, around 11:00am, went back to the train station and got my ticket, then walked to downtown where the train had already arrived but was allowing passengers time to wander the town. I talked to the conductor and indicated I’d like to upgrade my ticket should someone decided to stay overnight in Silverton. He didn’t think that would happen but an hour later, he lets me know that it was looking good. When all aboard was called, I was ushered into an empty car. Comfortable, nice seats, with the added advantage that I could open any of the windows for a breeze if I wanted to. Guess he felt that it wouldn’t be much fun for me sitting all by myself in an empty car so after the train had completed boarding, and left the station, he moved me back into the Presidential car. There were only 1 or 2 empty seats back there so I considered myself lucky to have one. I offered more money, but he said it wasn’t necessary.

Pretty nice there in the Presidential car. Free drinks, snacks, comfy seats, all in the last car of the train so you could sit out in back and watch the scenery go by. It was too early for alcohol but later maybe. Plus there were a couple free gifts; a very nice coffee mug and a heavy fabric tote bag. I figured that all the free stuff I got (that hadn’t come with the ticket I’d bought) was worth around $50. Thanks to the staff of the railroad. By the way, everyone associated with the RR was very nice, accommodating, and helpful.

Here’s the conductor that let me upgrade my ticket.

The 1st class car my ticket pays for.

1st Class car may not seem like much but I was allowed to go into a very nice dining car if I wished for some 1st Class amenities. But soft drinks only.

This was the Presidential class car.

Here’s what the web site says about Presidential Class: “Take a ride on the Cinco Animas! The Victorian splendor of a bygone era awaits you onboard one of the most legendary and historic private cars to ever grace the narrow gauge rails. The Cinco Animas offers two distinctively appointed seating areas and a large outdoor viewing platform is exclusively available to those who choose this car.”

There was a 21 or older requirement for this car. Which I liked.

Off we go, and on our way south towards Durango.

The RV park where I’m staying.

You can just see my RV in the above shot. It’s just to the left of the pole in the middle of the picture. Since the last train departed Silverton at 6pm, noise was never an issue. Plus I like trains so they wouldn’t have bothered me if they’d run all night.

The Animas River.

It’s surprising that from the train car you can’t really see many roads. Oh, sure, you can see buildings from the car, but it looks as though the only way to get to them is by horse. No roads are visible.

Much of the beginning of the trip was downhill, though we did get to chug up a hill or two. And go through a couple tunnels.

Up in the boondocks was this huge building. Probably a lodge, I guessed. When we passed it, you could see a bunch of young people wandering about.

These old cars were parked along side the tracks and the conductor told us that was the RR’s bone yard. If they needed something to refurbish one of the old cars, or make a new one, here’s where they got the skeleton.

We start a long downhill ride and the river dropped away from us. Most of the trip we’d been right along side of it.

Big rocks! And below, we’ve made it down to the valley and are again, along side the river. This was the boring section of the trip. Farm country. Went on a little to long for my liking.

And then we reach Durango. From here, I wandered to the downtown brew pub that was nearby. Several blocks away. But I was early enough that I had a nice conversation with a local or two in the Pub before I had to get back to the train station and catch the bus back to Silverton.

And off we go by bus, back up into the mountains. In comfort.

You can see from the shadows that it’s getting to be late afternoon…of the same day.

And here’s a shot of Silverton from the bus in one of the few areas of the road that actually had guard rails. A few seconds before the driver had been distracted and swerved in  an area where there wasn’t any guard rail. When he realized he was to close to the edge and a 400 foot drop, we all got quite a shake as he swerved back onto the road. But, we didn’t fall over the edge that time so all’s well. Beautiful valley isn’t it? Because of that professional driver almost dumping us all over the mountains edge, I asked later that night, at a bar where I went for dinner, what people did when it snowed? Did the state plow the road or not? Since mostly they didn’t bother with guard rails, I didn’t think they would. They do though. Some folks told me that the state said that many of those mountain roads didn’t have guard rails so the snow plows could easily scrape the snow off the edge and not be blocked by a guard rail. BS. They’ve made equipment to overcome that problem for decades. The state of Colorado just doesn’t want to part with the money for guard rails to protect people and have come up with that lame excuse to deflect criticism about the many that are injured or die each year because of it. People also told me that they do get snowed in occasionally, but they’re all ready for snow when it comes and can hold up at home without the road for weeks if necessary. But usually it only took a few days for things to get back to normal. It does make for trouble for those people that work down in Durango. Some have two homes so they can winter down the mountain.

And that’s my train trip. See you guys next time.