Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos with the keyword: Durango & Silverton

Back down in Durango, a day after the rail trip. A maintenance vehicle crossing the first (northbound) of the bridges over the Animas river.

Going north we passed this helicopter once, going south we passed it twice. One person on the train said that the helicopter continuously surveys the tracks when the train was operating to look out for fires.

I didn't find any information on this bridge, but if you look at the satellite view, this is clearly a previous alignment of the tracks.

Heading out..

Home (Durango) bound train. Note the bus on the right side of the photo -- some people take the bus in one direction and the train in the other.

Unloading in Silverton. There is a depot in Silverton, but probably due to the volume of passengers, the depot isn't used and the trains pull into a loading zone on one of the city streets.

Coming into Silverton, with a train using the wye to reverse direction.

Fireman, on top, topping off water in the tender; the engineer on the ground inspects and oils various parts.

Tank creek water tank.

Having been in California through five years of drought, the heavy flow of water in the Animas was quite refreshing to see.

Crossing the Animas River

Over the Animas river, a blowdown. The blowdown uses steam to blow water from the boiler so as to reduce the amount of impurities in the water.

Doesn't look overly sturdy, but it's held for close to 100 years.

Coming into Rockwood Depot

Probably the longest relatively straight stretch for the train, running along CO-250 and climbing into the mountains.

Leaving Durango. That's the conductor for the gondola car -- friendly and very helpful, but (fortunately) not a chatty tour guide.

What men do.... watch, talk, fiddle, advise..

Pretty much the entire gondola car -- somewhere between 30 and 40 passengers. Being an open car not far behind the steam locomotive, we got lots of ahes in our faces and all over us (it took several washings to get it off my hands) But, being very open and not very crowded, people moved about easily, the views were wonderful, and there was a lot of interaction about photography, the tracks and the train, the rivers we passed, life in general, and even national politics...Much more enjoyable than I expected.