The Scenic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Train

I love trains. When I was 10 years old we lived near a railroad yard in Saharanpur, India. In the evenings, along with my siblings, I would walk along the yard tracks and watch the mighty steam engines as they shunted to and fro, taking on coal and being serviced in the yard.

Last month I took a road trip to the scenic Rockies town of Durango, Colorado. Founded in 1880 by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, historic Durango is perched at 6512 feet above sea level and is the terminus for a beautiful narrow gauge railroad that snakes up the mountains to the old mining town of Silverton (9318 feet above sea level) in the grand Colorado heights.

We took lots of pictures along the scenic route taken by this steam train, which is reminiscent of the legendary Darjeeling express in India as well as other mountain trains I remember from my youth – the train to Simla from Kalka in Himachal Pradesh and the one to Ooty from Wellington in Mysore.

Here’s a short video to give you a flavor of the lovely mountain towns of Durango and Silverton and also how the train traverses the scenic vistas along the beautiful, 45 mile route from Durango to Silverton. The train makes a picture book journey along the spectacular Animas River and boasts some of Colorado’s most striking canyon scenery. (Some stills were taken by my colleague, Larry Porter).

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The Durango train station was built in 1840. Here are some photos:

A solo engine steams into the station.

We visited the Service Yard in Durango at night. Some pics:

and

The town of Silverton has a picturesque setting in the high Rockies. Here is a video of a double engine train chugging into Silverton:

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All in all a very beautiful setting for a train lover!