Within the murky secret world of train enthusiasts there are icons to which you must pay homage. In the category of excursion railroads the narrow-gauge Durango and Silverton is one of those icons if not THE Icon. As the train winds its may through the mountains toward the old mining town of Silverton, Colorado, your intrepid (for lack of a better word) adventurers drove over two mountain passes, both in excess of 10,000 feet, to greet the first of three trains. It left Durango at 8 am and we left at 9. We had time to visit the souvenir stores and have an early lunch in Silverton before the train arrived at 11:30.
The noise of the locomotive and smell of coal smoke brought back memories of my childhood. The great Iron Horse whose power was obvious, pulling a line of coaches which would take you on another adventure. What Joy! My father who worked on the railroad for more than 40 years would add to the experience when he said, "Nasty. smelly things."
I did not want to be too one-sided in this blog entry and neglect other modes of western travel. I have no idea where the stagecoach came from or was going to but having had a brief experience with harnessing and caring for work horses I figured it was fair to include this photo out of respect.
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