Page 5 of 12
Durango, Colorado
He’ll be smiling as he seals my fate when the brakeman turns my way
The thing to do in Durango (Colorado) is to take the all day steam train ride up to Silverton (Colorado). The tracks which at first parallel US 550 soon veer into National Forest land, along the Animus River and deliberately climb their way all the way up to Silverton- a slow, authentic, coal fired, steam powered three and a half hour trip (each way) where getting there is all of the fun.
After some thought, I decided to go severely against type by not being cheap and actually booking a first class premium seat on the Silver Vista car, a car which had the same view as the cheaper seats but was also filled with some extra perks and opportunities. First of all we had our very own private attendant who acted as a tour guide, brought us complimentary drinks, free donuts and various snacks as well as a welcome gift (a free hat). In addition, the super comfortable car was open to the outside (no dirty glass windows to worry about) and had a clear glass top, making the scenic ride as scenic as possible. A few minor disadvantages were easily corrected- in the morning cold, free loaner blankets were offered and throughout the journey we were all strongly encouraged to wear sunglasses- not to protect our eyes against the sun but rather to keep all that flying coal ash and debris clear of them. All remedies worked absolutely fine, at least at first...
A close up of my car as it was parked along the Animus River at a picnic area off the Wye at an unscheduled stop (and a long one at that).
As we were slowly climbing our way about halfway to Durango, the engine whistled several times which (according to our attendant) meant we were stopping, although she commented it was unusual for the train to stop at that point. Then the brakeman somewhat quickly ran through the car checking things, something our attendant told us was, um, nothing to be worried about. Then she explained that the next whistle signal meant we were about to go backwards, again not normal but again nothing to be concerned about. Maybe another hot chocolate or another donut would distract us, yes, how about another donut sir.
What followed was a stop at the Animus River picnic area, a short stop which turned into a three hour stop before we even knew it. As we waited the brakeman came back to tell us (since there is no public address or crew communication system on the historic train) that there was an issue with the engine's brake system and it was likely that we would be turning around and going home once a replacement engine arrived. Complicating that plan was the perfectly fine train directly behind us (on the one track railroad) which also had to wait as long as us because of our technical issues. Eventually three hours later after many, many false starts and many, many complimentary hot chocolates, waters and snacks, the engineers coupled our trains and with two engines (and a very, very long train) we started heading up to Durango, hours and hours behind schedule but still determined to get up to Silverton and avoid giving out all those nasty refunds that a trip back to Durango might otherwise require.
Well I guess if you're going to get stuck for three hours somewhere you could do worse.
The train that was supposed to arrive at Silverton at 12:30 finally got there but not until well after 5pm. We were told that it would take an hour to get the train turned around and ready for the return trip, although in the end it took close to three hours. By the time we were ready to leave Silverton the entire town was already under the long, cold mountain shadows that should have greeted us back in Durango.
As for Silverton itself, getting there really was all of the fun. It's not that there was nothing to do that late in Silverton- there were some shops and some mountains and I did get a quick, reasonable decent dinner, but, well, ok, there really wasn't a damn thing to do that late in Silverton.
One of the last pictures I took aboard the very long train as it rode downhill back to Durango and well into night when (unfortunately) many of the Silver Vista car's early advantages began to disappear. First of all the car was not prepared for night operations. There were no lights, no lanterns, no steplights. Sure the stars were beautiful and the moonlit canyons haunting, but it was also especially unpleasant when you needed to get up and blindly feel your way to the restroom one car back. Additionally the openness of the car that was so pleasant during the day became a bit less pleasant as day turned into that cold hard night. And those sunglasses recommended to protect your eyes just didn't work all that well in the dark, no matter what any mid 1980s Canadian pop singers might suggest.
The train got back to Durango over five hours late at just about 11:30PM. It was late enough that the train's attendant actually offered to let me sleep on her couch in Durango after she learned I was still planning on driving the difficult hour (or so) that night up to Far View at Mesa Verde National Park. I declined and made it up to Far View sometime after 1AM where for a few brief moments it was just me and one of the most amazing night skies I have ever been fortunate enough to see. I guess all those unending delays turned out to be good in the end.
