Colorado's Durango - Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad first came to Durango on August 5th, 1881, two years after the Denver & Rio Grande Railway founded the new town. Intended for hauling silver and gold from the surrounding San Juan Mountains, construction on the line to Silverton began just a few months after the railroad arrived.

By July, 1882, the route was completed, and the train began moving both freight and passengers between the two towns. The DSNGR and its steam engines have now been in continuous operation for 127 years.

The completely coal-fired and steam-operated locomotives are 1923-25 vintage and maintained in their original condition.

There are two museums where you can learn much more about this historic railroad--the DSNGR Museum located at the south end of the roundhouse in Durango and The Freight Yard Museum at the Silverton Depot. Admission is included with the price of a train ticket and is good for two days before and two days after your ride. (Otherwise, it's $5 per adult or $2.50 per child, without a train ticket.)

The train travels 45.4 miles along the Animas River during the summer season from May through October. On winter trips from late November through early May, the train run 26 miles from Durango to the turn-around at Cascade Station and back.

From May through October, you can board the DSNGR at several points, including the small, fun city of Durango at an elevation of 6,512 feet or tiny, historic Silverton at 9,305 feet at the other end of the line, or the wilderness access points at Needleton and Elk Park.

There is now also the option of getting off and later back on the train at Soaring Tree Top Adventures, where you can zip line your way through and above the aspen trees or fly from platform to platform on spans ranging from 50 to 1400 feet over a distance of more than a mile. (There is no road access to this location.) I missed a great photo, by the way, of a kid zipping through the trees past the train--upside-down--when my camera got hung up in my pocket.

Anyhow, at one point along the train's route, the tracks literally take passengers along a cliff, hundreds of feet above the Animas River rapids.

Uh-oh! Everybody lean to the left! (Nah, I wasn't nervous.)

Hey, see that kid in the photo above--the one drinking from the red straw? He was the one who kept leaning over and spitting out the side of the gondola. Thing is, the spray kept blowing back at me! His mom saw but didn't seem to care, so we moved to the other end of the car. Yuck!

Below, the train passes through Elk Park, a "short stop" that provides hikers wilderness access. The train only stops here if people are scheduled to get off or if they flag the train to board. (I was kinda hoping the spitting kid would get off, but no such luck.)

The train stops a couple of times to load up with water for the engines.

You're constantly in sight of the Animas River along the entire route, so keep an eye out for rafters and kayakers. That looks like quite a ride, too!

The train crosses the river five times along the way, so you'll have lots of great views of the Animas from either side of the car.

The quiet town of Silverton comes alive when the train arrives, offloading more than 200,000 people each year, often for a stay of no more than a couple of hours.

At the start of our trip, when we rode the train from Silverton to Elk Park, we got all excited when we heard the steamy whistle blow just outside of town, well before we saw it when it rounded the corner onto Blair Street.

There is no train station in Silverton. The tracks simply lead down the unpaved road, stopping just before the crosswalk.

If you're really afraid of heights, I still wouldn't pass up this ride, which is very safe (I think). The majority of the route really is down at or near the bottom of the narrow valley.

If you'll be riding in one of the open-air gondolas, you're sure to get covered with bits of soot and cinder from the coal-fired steam engine, so I'd recommend against wearing anything you wouldn't want to get grimy, like white pants for instance.

Also, bring along eye protection. It's not like you're constantly getting pelted, but without eyeglasses, sunglasses or safety glasses, you're almost sure to get irritating particles in your eyes. They do sell safety glasses on the train if you forget yours.

Even in late June, our train ride from Durango back to Silverton was very cold and unseasonably wet. What began as t-shirt weather in Durango soon became fleece, rain jacket, hat and gloves weather as we climbed and the clouds rolled in. So be sure to bring along some layers and maybe even a blanket if you'll be riding outside at all. The train goes slowly--it's top speed is 18 miles per hour, which it rarely seemed to reach--but there's still enough added breeze to create significant windchill.

Also, if you don't want to spend extra dollars on the train, you might bring along drinks and munchies like we did.

And, by gosh, don't forget your camera!

For your ride, you have the choice of several "classes" of cars and service, from the standard (aka economy) class in the open-air gondolas and vintage coaches, the latter with windows that you can open, to the cushier "deluxe" class, the stylish "first class" with its complimentary pastries and beverages, and the private "presidential class."

Pictured here is the interior of a standard vintage coach (before most of the passengers had boarded).

And this is a gondola. There are padded bench seats, which face towards either side of the car. On a nice day (and even on a not-so-nice day), this is where I'd want to be, cinders or not.

There's also a concession car on the train. We brought along our own lunch and drinks for the ride, but we heard about an endless cup they sell--I think it's around $6--which you can have continuously filled with whatever you'd like to drink, cold or hot. And you can keep the cup and bring it back with you if you ride the train again and continue to get those free refills. I saw several folks have quite a few hot cocoas and coffees on our trip.

And, yep, there are even bathrooms aboard the train, too.

While all of this information and more is available on the official website of the DSNGR, I'll give an overview here:

Basically, the cost of the train is the same whether you're going one-way or round-trip and regardless of where you get on or off. We chose the "cheap seats" for $79 per person. This price applies to both the open-air gondolas and the indoor, vintage coach seating. (Seats are assigned when you make your reservation, but we found we were able to move about freely and sit inside or out as long as there was room on the train and we weren't occupying someone's reserved seat that they wanted to use.)

Prices range from $79 to $179 per person for adults, with a season pass now available for $99 for adults and $49 for children. In addition to unlimited rides throughout the year, season pass holders also get discounts on special events, like the New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Independence Day, Cowboy Poet, and Photographer's Special trains.

**It's noted on the website that there is a $10 charge per backpack (I mean the big, hiker kind, not the small day packs many people carry), but there was no mention of that charge when we made the reservation or got on the train, and we were never assessed the baggage fee. We were not, however, allowed to hang onto our packs during the ride. They were placed in a different car and handed down to us when we got off.

Also, if you'd like to make it a round trip (or semi-round-trip like ours) but return on a different day, that's no problem. Our ride from Silverton to Elk Park was a week before our ride from Durango back to Silverton. In addition, there's the option of making a return trip by motor coach instead of taking the train back.

For more information about reservations, schedules and special events, visit the
Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad website.