Tag Archives: Durango and Silverton scenic railway

Durango and Silverton Change of Plans

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The desire to run away from home is pretty strong right now. Never fear, adventure is in the horizon and I won’t really run away from home. Scout would be so mad if I did. So, I am reliving memories from trips of summers past. This photo tells a story from my trip to Colorado in August 2023.

My western adventure pal picked me up at the Denver airport and we did a huge loop out to Grand Junction, down the Million Dollar Highway and through the Four Corners Region. I wrote about it a lot back then because we packed lots of fun into that week.

The day we took the Durango and Silverton Scenic Railway was one of my favorite trip memories. It leaves Durango in the morning and chugs up the mountain to the village of Silverton where you explore while they turn the train around. It was absolutely gorgeous but a long, slow, and exhausting ride. We were both sort of over the train ride experience by the time we arrived at Silverton and were glad to learn we could pay a few extra bucks for a fast bus ride down the mountain. We, along with several others, gratefully did that and were glad for the smooth ride back to the car.

In this picture, I imagine these gentlemen are settling their wager over how many people would abandon the train for the bus that day!

Ha!

I bet they see a lot of people like us who are ready for a soft seat and a smooth ride after hours in an antique train car!

It was a fun experience that I would highly recommend. The train takes you through places you will never see from the car and will likely hike to on foot. Just be sure wait to book the train/bus ticket combo when you buy your tickets!

A Ride From Durango To Silverton

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Since 1882, trains have made the climb through the San Juan Mountains from Durango, Colorado to Silverton. While this was once a vital route for practical purposes, it is now a scenic railway for tourists.

The 45 mile route takes about 3.5 hours at a top speed of 18 mph. It begins in downtown Durango, traveling through nice rural areas, into the San Juan Forest and along the Animas River.

I cannot even fathom what it took to lay this track. The crew, made up mostly of Irish and Chinese immigrants, worked in precarious places to carve out space for this narrow gauge line.

There are places so narrow that you can almost reach out the window on either side and touch granite. There are also places so close to the edge that you can see no flat ground but only a sheer drop off to the canyon below.

It was both awe inspiring and occasionally terrifying from my window seat.

At the end of the line, passengers have a couple of hours to explore Silverton while they turn the train and prepare for the return trip.

I will be completely honest with you. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip but it is a very long ride. So when we learned that it might be possible to upgrade our return train ticket to a bus ticket, Johnna and I jumped right on the opportunity. The bus took significantly less time, allowing us to get on with our evening.

Clearly, we wouldn’t have made good pioneers. To be fair, the bus ride was a terrific experience, partly because our driver was knowledgeable and friendly and the bus views were great too.

Check back tomorrow and I’ll tell you about Silverton.