Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

A National Historic Landmark And A National Civil Engineering Landmark. Coal Fired Steam Trains Have Run This Three Foot Narrow Gauge Line, Built In 1881 82 To Carry Silver Ore, Continuously Ever Since Forty Five Miles From Durango To Silverton Through The Animas River Gorge. · Durango, Colorado

The line was built in nine months in 1881 and 1882 to bring silver ore down from Silverton, and it has never stopped running - the same three-foot gauge, the same route, and coal-fired steam locomotives still hauling it, which is close to unique in the United States. The forty-five miles from Durango climb through the Animas River gorge on a shelf blasted into the canyon wall, in places several hundred feet above the water with nothing between the carriage window and the river. The round trip takes most of a day, with a layover in Silverton, a mining town at nine thousand three hundred feet that the railway exists to reach. It has appeared in a string of films, it is a National Historic Landmark, and it is the single most expensive ticket in this batch and worth it. The winter service is a different railway that turns back at Cascade Canyon without reaching Silverton, which is the detail that catches out people booking a Christmas trip.

479 Main Avenue, Durango, Colorado, 81301, United States

Trains run year-round but not the same trains. The full steam service to Silverton operates roughly May to October; in winter the railroad runs a shorter Cascade Canyon service that turns back before Silverton, plus the Polar Express at Christmas, which sells out months ahead. Departures are in the morning from Durango with a layover at the far end. TICKETS SELL OUT in summer and at Christmas. Confirm which service is running before booking anything else about a trip.

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