Showing posts with label Colorado Railroads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colorado Railroads. Show all posts

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Durango and Silverton Railroad a Travel Adventure in Colorado!


 

Do you love taking a historic and scenic train ride?  Colorado has many, and my husband and I have made a point of taking a ride on them all. I have twelve train rides featured on my blog under the label Colorado Railroads, beginning with this post and continuing back to the first one we took ten years ago.  Each train ride offers wonderful views and experiences.  We typically enjoy these train rides during the fall season when the stunning colors of the Colorado aspen trees enhance the beauty of each journey. and the Durango Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad was no exception!  This time of the year is also around our anniversary and we celebrated number 49 this year!




We began our journey by driving from our area of the Colorado Front Range to Durango, Colorado which is located in South West Colorado in the San Juan Mountian region.  There is so much to see and do in Durango but our time was limited on this trip so we were there primarily to take the round-trip train ride that we scheduled ahead of time. The train fills up quickly this time of year so it is best to make advance reservations. We chose the 9-hour roundtrip journey (includes a 2-hour Silverton layover), but there are other shorter options if desired, and special train rides such as the upcoming Holiday Polar Express train ride that begins in November and ends at the end of December.




My husband and I reserved our seats on the open-air Gondola Car as we enjoyed seeing the sights from all sides of the train and having the flexibility to move around the car.   The Gondola Car had an outward-facing bench on both sides as assigned seats but there was a lot of flexibility to take photos and I took hundreds!  I made these photo collages to make sharing them much easier. to see more detail each collage can be clicked on and it will enlarge. As the Durango Silverton Train left Durango we passed, businesses, homes, farms, and ranches as well as the Durango Hot Springs area.





As the train rose higher and higher up into the San Juan Mountains we saw beautiful vistas and autumn color.  The train follows the Animas River route and crosses over and around the river five times during its journey.  You can watch a video short I took of the train climbing up into the mountains on this YouTube link or on my Mille Fiori Facebook page at this link.




The scenery was breathtaking!





The colorful fall foliage, the vast San Juan Mountain vistas, and the icy blue/green Animas River views were stunning!




At one point the train stopped at a mountain resort and some backpackers disembarked to hike. we also saw a man zip by on a zip line-- see the last photo in the lower right in the collage above.  If you'd like to see a short video reel of more of the train ride on my Mille Fiori Facebook link Click Here--make sure to turn on the sound on the video to hear the sound of the steam train and the train whistle at the end of the video--it is very iconic and a bit romantic to me.





The terminus of the train ride is the historic gold mining town of Silverton. which is nestled in the San Juan Mountains at an elevation of 9,3018 feet (2,840.1264 meters)



During our round-trip train ride, we had a two-hour layover in Silverton where we enjoyed a nice lunch and took a walk around town to visit the shops.




Silverton Mountain is a thrilling year-round destination for skiing enthusiasts. The mountain boasts of over 400 inches (1016 centimeters) of hefty snowfall during winter, leaving the trails ungroomed. The current advertising campaign aptly describes the experience as "all thrills and no frills." However, the recent acquisition of the Silverton Mountain area by Aspen Travel Adventure Company may lead to changes beyond the current offerings.



Our train ride back to Durango was equally scenic.




We ended the day with a delicious dinner in the Diamond Belle Saloon at the historic Strater Hotel in Durango, where the diners were serenaded by a wonderful Ragtime Paino Player during dinner.  It was a wonderful way to begin our 49th anniversary! 

The next day we took a drive on the famous "Million Dollar Highway," US 550. from Durango to Ouray, Colorado. Photos will be in my next post, where you will see how it may have gotten its nickname.


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Monday, October 17, 2022

The Scenic Cumbres and Toltec Railroad



My husband and I love the adventure of a steam engine railroad ride and we were excited to take a 6-hour ride on the very scenic Cumbres and Toltec Railroad recently, taking the ride from Antonito, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico. 

The train's website describes it perfectly:
"The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a National Historic Landmark.  At 64-miles in length, it is the longest, the highest and most authentic steam railroad in North America, traveling through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Rocky Mountain West.

Owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico, the train crosses state borders 11 times, zigzagging along canyon walls, burrowing through two tunnels, and steaming over 137-foot Cascade Trestle. All trains steam along through deep forests of aspens and evergreens, across high plains filled with wildflowers, and through a rocky gorge of remarkable geologic formations."





The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad was originally constructed in 1880 as part of the Rio Grande’s narrow gauge San Juan Extension, which served the silver mining district of the San Juan mountains in southwestern Colorado. The inability to interchange cars with other railroads led the Rio Grande to begin converting its tracks to standard gauge in 1890.  Through the years the line became less and less used and finally abandoned. Happily, railway preservationists had the foresight to save the most scenic portion of the line. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico jointly purchased the track and line-side structures from Antonito to Chama.




When taking the train from the Antonito, Colorado station we first passed over the vast high-elevation San Luis Valley, which has an average elevation of 7,664 feet (2,336 m) above sea level.  My husband and I went out to the stand-up open car as soon as our tickets were punched as we wanted to see all the scenery. A herd of Pronghorns ran across the tracks in the distance at this point, but they were so fast I couldn't catch a good photo of them.




A short Youtube video I took of the train traveling in the San Luis Valley at the beginning of our ride.






The train quickly covers the flat ground and reaches a series of hills. It crosses Ferguson’s Trestle, named for a man who was hung there. 


It then climbs to a lava mesa, a remnant of the mountain's volcanic past. From here, the route winds around wide curves, going up into the mountains.  




We took the train ride the last week in September, so I was concerned that the fall color would not be very bright as yet, but the higher we went in elevation the more golden the aspens became.






The train track was very close to the edge of the mountain summit cliffs and my husband and I marveled over the construction and all the effort it must have taken to lay all the track.




The train passed by Sublette.  Sublette was the home of station gangs, the workers who maintained the right-of-way ties, ballast, and rails. During early railroad operations, the telegraph and trains were the only communication for folks living there.




We passed through the 342-foot Mud Tunnel which requires wooden supports to hold up the tunnel roof and walls.







We were now in an attractive geologic area of volcanic lava rock.





The views were beautiful!




The autumn color was really popping here.






So many aspen trees!






We really enjoyed the views!



We passed alongside many beautiful aspen groves and views of deep valleys and then entered the 360-foot-long Rock Tunnel which opened up to 600 feet above Toltec Gorge,  To see a video of our exciting ride through the tunnel and our first view of the gorge click here to see my YouTube short.  You can also see the square granite Garfield Monument towards the end of this video.  It was erected by railroad ticket agents and dedicated to the memory of  President James A. Garfield after his assassination in 1881.




If you look in the distance you can see the railroad track along the cliffside, where we had just traveled.  





The train stopped at Osier, Colorado where we were given a delicious cafeteria-style barbecue lunch included in our train ticket.





After lunch, we had a good view of the Rio de Los Pinos River when we were back on board the train.



The train passed over the Cascade Trestle that spanned 137 feet over Cascade Creek.





The train continued on over many curves which helped it gain elevation.





My husband's hand pointed to an eagle flying high overhead!




The train had to work hard to climb up to Cumbres Pass, the highest point on the railroad at 10,015 feet (3,052,5m) above sea level.  The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad travels the highest of any train in North America!  Fierce winter storms sometimes leave snow drifts of 20 feet or more.




More spectacular views!





As the train approached Chama, New Mexico, we were told of its role in some movies, as we passed a prop wooden tower that was used in an Indiana Jones movie in 1989.  When we reached the station we could see another engine and train that will make the trip from Chama to Antonito the next day.  We could also see the coach bus that was waiting to bring us back to Antonito.  The bus ride was also included in our train ticket and only took one hour as it took a very direct, but equally scenic, route.

We really enjoyed our day on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad and could see why it has been voted the best and most scenic train ride in America by readers of USA Today (2016, 2019, 2020)

If you'd like to see other train rides we've taken in Colorado you can see all ten prior posts at this tab. We have taken the Georgetown Loop many times, The Royal Gorge Railroad twice, the Leadville Colorado and Southern Railroad, and even the Tiny Town miniature railroad and we still have a few more train rides we are looking forward to taking in the future.  I hope you enjoyed taking a virtual trip on this historic and scenic Cumbres and Toltec Railroad with me.

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Sunday, July 3, 2022

The Georgetown Loop Railroad


 

Whenever we see this view driving west on Interstate 70 we know we are going to have an exciting day ahead somewhere in the Rocky Mountains! 



We love the views of some of the Rocky Mountains we see as we travel west.



One of our summer traditions since 2015 is driving to Georgetown, Colorado to take a ride on the historic Georgetown Loop Railroad.

See my first post about the railroad, which includes some historic photos, here.  

The train ride is a very scenic ride through an area of Clear Creek Canyon and over Clear Creek.  Clear Creek brings down melting snow from the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains for sixty-six miles, where eventually it joins the South Platte River.






As you can see in the video above, Clear Creek was running fairly high as we had a late snowfall this spring.




An informational placard for Clear Creek.





The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a narrow gauge of 3 ft (914 mm) in order to traverse certain points in a narrow mountain canyon.  It was built by the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railway, and completed in 1884.  




It was considered an engineering marvel for its time! The then-thriving mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume lie 2 miles (3.2 km) apart in the steep, narrow, Clear Creek Canyon, and engineers had to design a corkscrew route that traveled nearly twice that distance to connect them, slowly gaining more than 600 feet (183 m) in elevation. 





The route included horseshoe curves, grades of up to 4%, and four bridges that cross Clear Creek, including the massive 95-foot (29 m) high Devil's Gate High Bridge, that is seen in the photo above.

The successor Colorado & Southern Railway abandoned the railroad loop and the depot in 1939, but both were restored and reopened in 1984 by the Colorado Historical Society.






Our granddaughters enjoyed the ride very much! They were very brave when the train crossed over the high bridge, as you can see in this video that is on my millefiorifavoriti Instagram page--be sure to turn on the sound on the video to hear the train whistle!





There is an optional stop on the train to visit a Mine Tour and Gold Panning, but we have not as yet done this with our grandchildren as we are waiting for them to be a bit older to take the tour. While the train was stopped to let passengers on and off we saw this cute chipmunk along the side of the canyon wall. I think he was hoping we'd toss him something to eat, but we know not to feed the wildlife!




After the train ride, we drove into the cute little town of Georgetown to have lunch and ice cream. 

All in all, we had a wonderful time!





I have to congratulate the Colorado Avalance Hockey Team for winning the 2022 Stanley Cup! There was an estimated half million people at the parade and celebration held for them in Denver.  I took these photos from our TV.




The deer doe that gave birth to twin fawns in my backyard a few weeks ago--click here--to see that post and video--has been re-visiting us from time to time. The fawns are adorable and getting bigger every day. They are a joy to see!


Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July!


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