Steamscape: COLORado. D&RGW Locomotive #315 emerges from the "blazing" aspen forest at Coxo, Colorado, just prior to crossing Highway 17 for the 3rd time on the run to Cumbres P... (more)

There's gold in them there hills! The hills of the Chama Valley are ablaze with aspen gold as a short stock train slowly claws its way up the 4% grade toward Cumbres Pass. On level groun... (more)

Weed city....no weeds now! D&RGW Locomotive #315 chugs slowly toward the 28-car siding located just south of Lobato Trestle on the run to Cumbres Pass. Back in 1970, this site was used a... (more)

Passing Jukes' Tree. D&RGW Locomotive #315 sets off out of Chama, NM with 4 stock cars and a caboose for Cumbres Pass, seen here passing the more than 100 year-old tree named for early 20t... (more)

Back on the High Line. DRGW 473, an Alco K-28 Locomotive built in 1923, is seen here hauling her Silverton Mixed Train southbound around the High Line Horseshoe Curve, some 400 ft above the... (more)

Cement Wall southbound. From up on the rocks above track level, we see our Silverton Mixed charging southbound around the curve at MP 476.5 at the location known as "Cement Wall."... (more)

Twin Bridges - MP 489.9. Our Silverton Mixed crosses the Animas yet again just about 5 miles north of Needleton Tank. This location is known as "Twin Bridges" because there are t... (more)

Crossing the Animas southbound. Departing Silverton for Durango, our Silverton Mixed Train crosses the Animas for the first of 7 times, seen here on the timber bridge at MP 495.25, just a m... (more)

Silverton under the stars. It's a shame that Winston Link never made it out to the Colorado Narrow Gauge. His flashbulb-lit scenes in the high country might have looked a bit like this. ... (more)

The last Animas crossing. As she leaves the Animas Gorge and enters Silverton, our Mixed Train crosses the Animas one last time on the timber bridge at MP 495.25. This is always a great ph... (more)

"And by the time you get your hide past the Snowshed Slide.... You've had a ride on the Silverton, The Silverton Train." Those words penned over 4 decades ago by William Dale Fries, Jr. (a... (more)

MP 483 - Needle Creek Canyon. At around MP 483, our Silverton Mixed passes the confluence of Needle Creek and the Animas River. This location is a nice, open meadow and a great location to... (more)

Along the Rio de las Animas Perdidas. The old D&RGW Silverton Line follows the valley of the Rio de las Animas Perdidas (River of Lost Souls) from Durango to Silverton. After passing Tacom... (more)

High Bridge Blow-Down. DRGW K-28 #473 executes a firebox blow-down as she rumbles across the High Bridge at Tacoma, around MP 471.2. The blow-down involves opening valves in the boiler, j... (more)

On the High Line. Under a long-standing slow order, DRGW K-28 #473 takes her Silverton Mixed around the High Line Horseshoe Curve at MP 469.5.

The train pictured here is a reasonably au... (more)