- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
For our annual Fall Colors Tour we headed to the beautiful San Juan Mountains and stayed in Durango for a couple of nights. The scenery of the San Juans is hard to beat as many of you know and Fall in a special time to be in those mountains. We decided to do something we've talked about ever since moving to Colorado and booked 2 tickets to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad from Durango to Silverton & back.
Our first day we drove from GJ to Ouray where we had lunch at Maggies, the burgers were amazing! We headed up the Million Dollar highway, stopping along the way to take pics of the colors.
We eventually drove over Red Mountain Pass, into Silverton & hung out for awhile, walked around the open air D&SNGRR museum, checking out the cars and equipment. We did catch the train leaving town and watched the track patrolman head out behind the train in their motorcar.
We continued the drive, stopping a couple more times heading over Molas Pass for more colors & views. As the evening wound down, we found our hotel in Durango... right downtown and a few steps away from the depot.
Early that next morning we packed for our excursion, grabbed some breakfast and coffee.... it was 38*'s in Durango and I was glad that we were riding in one of the enclosed cars, not the open gondolas! We had a little time, so we walked thru the massive museum, it was impressive!
Our train was scheduled at 9 AM, we boarded 30 min earlier and got comfortable for the 45 mile, 3.5 hour journey. The train was packed for the trip and right on the dot at 9 AM, we heard the 'All Aboard!' and shortly there after the whistle and we were rolling out! Our locomotive was 480 which is a steam locomotive that used to burn coal, but was recently converted to run on oil injection.... used motor oil. The slight scent of burning motor oil lingered in the air as we left town.
Our first day we drove from GJ to Ouray where we had lunch at Maggies, the burgers were amazing! We headed up the Million Dollar highway, stopping along the way to take pics of the colors.
We eventually drove over Red Mountain Pass, into Silverton & hung out for awhile, walked around the open air D&SNGRR museum, checking out the cars and equipment. We did catch the train leaving town and watched the track patrolman head out behind the train in their motorcar.
We continued the drive, stopping a couple more times heading over Molas Pass for more colors & views. As the evening wound down, we found our hotel in Durango... right downtown and a few steps away from the depot.
Early that next morning we packed for our excursion, grabbed some breakfast and coffee.... it was 38*'s in Durango and I was glad that we were riding in one of the enclosed cars, not the open gondolas! We had a little time, so we walked thru the massive museum, it was impressive!
Our train was scheduled at 9 AM, we boarded 30 min earlier and got comfortable for the 45 mile, 3.5 hour journey. The train was packed for the trip and right on the dot at 9 AM, we heard the 'All Aboard!' and shortly there after the whistle and we were rolling out! Our locomotive was 480 which is a steam locomotive that used to burn coal, but was recently converted to run on oil injection.... used motor oil. The slight scent of burning motor oil lingered in the air as we left town.
