Durango & Silverton Railway

Yesterday we raced from Cortez to Durango to catch the famous Durango & Silverton Railway.  Actually we caught a coach for the first leg of the trip and returned on the steam train as getting the train both ways would result in near 8 hours spent on the tracks!

The railway connects the town of Durango, which lies at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, with Silverton, which is located around 45 miles north of Durango and about 8,000ft higher in the mountains. The line was constructed to haul silver and gold ore from the mountains in 1882, but passengers soon realized it was the view that was truly precious. The scenic line has been in continuous operation ever since and is one of the few remaining steam engines to continue to offer a consistent passenger service in the world.

Once at Silverton you get around 3 hours to explore the town which remains in generally the same condition it were in when it was home to miners and brothel houses. Today the buildings are used as restaurants or gift shops but the charm remains. We picked up a few things incredibly cheap including a hand blown glass locomotive model crafted by a local for only $35.

On the way back down we were seated in open carriages and had incredible views of the scenery including the peaks of the Rocky’s (some still snow crested), the rapids of the Animas river and we were even lucky enough to see two brown bears foraging for food amongst the pines! It got quite cold during the ride but it was worth it for all we got to see. As we were rather chilly when we arrived at the hotel in the evening we thought it would be nice to take a dip in the indoor hot tub. Fortunately we were warned by another guest that there were a few pieces of child poo floating around the jacuzzi. The man bobbing up and down in the hot tub completely unawares was not so lucky!