We arrived at the Durango and Silverton RR depot right on time, we found our assigned coach seat and were off to Silverton at 9:00 sharp! The morning trip up the mountain was a bit of a disappointment. Its 3.5 hours of rockin' and rollin' and not much to see. That's a long time! We had "bad" seats on the wrong side of the car so most of what we saw was cliff faces on the left side.
Silverton is a mountain town, elevation 9300 feet. The only paved road is US 550 which runs through as Main St. Lots and lots of restaurants, saloons, tourist places. We had a great lunch at Lacey Rose saloon, complete with classic ragtime by an old guy at the piano! We had some time left to walk around the town "shopping".
The trip back to Durango was 100% better! Quite a few people had taken bus back down so there were far fewer people on the train, meaning we could move about a bit. This time, we had a window on the downhill side which improved the view immensely. There was an incredible section, hugging the side of the mountain with the river far below. At the end, the D&S has a fascinating museum, too!
So, the advice to anyone wanting to do this: take the bus up to Silverton; take the train back to Durango and be sure to sit on the left side of the coach!
We were back in town at 6:15 sharp (RR schedule is precise!) Rather than go back to the hotel, we had dinner at the Diamond Belle saloon in the historic Strater Hotel. We were blessed with a great surprise: Live music by a cowboy band! They were awesome!
Durango seems like a "happenin" place! Its home of Fort Lewis College so lots of students and tourists. Reminds one of Sun Valley and Bend.
Tomorrow we drive north on the Million Dollar Highway.
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| Main St Silverton |
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| D&S RR Museum in Durango |
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