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Durango & Silverton
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Durango & Silverton
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 Locomotives cross and re-cross 6th Street as they come out of the Durango engine yard to pick up their trains. In this view, No. 482 is alongside the perpendicular-parking spaces that line railroad Avenue. |
 No. 482 leads a train out of Durango, crossing the Animas River for the first time. |
 A modern footbridge crosses just downstream of the railroad bridge. |
 The line parallels route 550 as far as Hermosa. |
 No. 482 posing. |
 A telephoto view of the train approaching Hermosa. The switches lead to sidings. |
 No. 482 crosses the pony truss at Hermosa. |
 Four former East Broad Top Railroad hoppers carry ballast for the Durango & Silverton. That's the Hermosa tank in the background. |
 Anyone can see why Travis and I get along. |
 No. 482 works up a grade toward Rockwood. |
 The train approaches the flag stop at Rockwood, as far out as it's practical to chase. |
 After lunch, we head back to Rockwood to meet up again with the train, now southbound. |
 Coming out of the cut that leads to the high line, the train crosses a switch at the northern end of the little Rockwood yard. |
 Travis succeeded in dragging his friends Brian and Jenny along the first day we actually rode the train. |
 A view of the high line from the back end of the train. |
 In winter, trains run only as far as the Cascade wye. Check out those K-36 cylinders! No. 482 has the distinction of having been on the point of the final D&RGW train from Alamosa to Salida, in 1952. |
 Travis and I rode again a couple of days later. I mean, how often do I get to Durango? Meanwhile, Travis has gone and gotten himself a summer job there -- as a fireman on the railroad! Not that I'm envious. Anyhow, No. 478 pulled the second train. |
 No. 478 leaving Durango, as seen from the back end of the train. |
 Her snow plow lends No. 478 a slightly sinister air. The K-28s are smaller than the K-36s. D&RGW engineers referred to them as "sport models," according to Cinders & Smoke, the Durango & Silverton's old mile-by-mile guidebook. (Alas, it has since been discarded in favor of volume that offers less substance and more gooey prose. Which I guess is what Americans want.) |
 A detail shot of No. 478. |
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Click here to watch a 4.2MB Quicktime video clip of No. 482 pulling her train up the grade by the U.S. 550 overpass. (You can download a Quicktime player free from Apple's Web site.) |
