Day 17: Meeting a Relative, and the Durango and Silverton Steam Railroad...

Today we met up with my cousin Mike and his wife Diane, something we planned several months ago and actually managed to pull off.  We left our cabin at the crack of dawn for the hour-and-a-half drive down to Durango.  First stop was the doggie day care we'd checked out last week, where we left an excited Miki (wagging his tail like mad and loving all over the folks there) and uncertain Race (who watched us leave with an uncertain look on his face).  Then we got lost as we tried to find the railway station parking lot; a nice fellow we met on the street set us right. 

As we entered the parking lot, I got my electronic receipt for the parking fee and prepared myself for a challenge getting acceptance of it (Mike had the actual ticket).  It turned out to be no problem at all – Mike had been their first, and had made a memorable impression upon the clerk.  Once she heard our name, she instantly knew who we were, knew we'd paid, and just waved us in.  Nice!

We walked over to the train station and undertook the next challenge: locating Mike and Diane.  You might think this would be easy, but not so – we've only seen them once in the past 50 years, and I in particular am really bad at remember faces, so we just wandered around looking for someone else looking.  Finally Diane approached us (after we'd walked right by her), as she recognized my beard :).  Once we found each other, all was well.

I've never ridden a steam powered train before, so in addition to the beautiful scenery and the pleasure of spending time with some relatives, I also had a new experience!  The bad parts were the smoke and grit the coal-fired locomotive spewed.  The good parts were the sights and sounds: the chuffing driver pistons, the steam whistle, and the hissing as the over-pressure vent let off steam.  There was also some squirting of water out the side, perhaps for fire suppression.

These steam locomotives, it turns out, start quite a few small fires if you aren't careful.  Someone we met in Silverton told us that at times of high risk the train was sometimes followed by a firefighting helicopter!  No such problem today, but we were followed by a little tiny locomotive with two men on it.  On the way from Durango to Silverton (uphill) they concentrated on fire suppression – the locomotive was working hard, and there were embers spewing.  On the way back (downhill) they mostly picked up litter that train passengers dropped.  I saw them pick up several things, so I know that was true.  Sometimes I don't like my fellow humans all that much.  Actually, that's most of the time...

The ride took much longer than I was expecting.  The drive (which is longer and follows a different route) takes almost exactly one hour.  The train ride takes three and a half hours each way – because the train averages just 12 to 15 miles per hour.

The train's route follows the Animas River quite closely.  Most of the time we were in a valley of varying width, from miles to just a few hundred yards.  For perhaps a quarter of the trip, though, we were in a very narrow, deep, rock-sided gorge that was quite beautiful. 

The highlight of the whole day, though, was getting to spend some time with Mike and Diane.  They live in Denver, and Diane had ridden on this train something like 30 years earlier.  She told us about the big changes in both Durango and Silverton since then; both had grown enormously.  We talked about all sorts of things, but most especially about various family memories.  Mike is about 10 years older than I am, and remembers some things that I can't, such as my mom and dad dating :)

When we got back to Durango, we scooted over to the doggie day care and retrieved our mutts.  They were fine, but boy were they happy to see us!  Then we drove back to Silverton and repeated our dinner at Stellar – soup and a pizza again, and just as good as the first time.

A long day, but fun...and very different than what we've been doing!

Along the Animas River, on the way from Durango to Silverton...

In our open train car, Diane (cousin Mike's wife) on left, and my lovely bride on the right.  My photo of cousin Mike made him look so demonic that I couldn't bring myself to post it :)

Water tank, unused today but formerly was used to replenish the water supply in the steam locomotive.  This was of interest to me because of the construction: vertical wooden “staves” with iron hoops tightened with turnbuckles.  We had a tank much like this on the farm I grew up on.

Closer to Silverton, along the way...

One of the three steam locomotives (not ours) used on the railroad...

Animas River gorge, as seen from the train on the way back to Durango...

Closer to Durango on the return trip...