Podcast
Letting off steam: Travel back in time on Colorado’s most beautiful rail journey
Step aboard a historic steam train through Colorado’s wild canyons, rugged mining towns, and ancient cliffside dwellings at Mesa Verde. This truly is a breathtaking journey through the heart of West America
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The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway is more than just a scenic ride. It’s a journey back in time. Founded in 1880, this mountain railroad was first set up to ferry workers from the wild west town of Durango to the mines of the San Juan Mountains, and has been in continuous operation since then.
In today’s episode, travel writer James Ruddy is going to take us on a journey, riding the steam locomotive from the old mining town of Silverton, 914 metres back down to the high desert plains of the Four Corners region.
Following the course of the Animas River, the tracks wind through thick pine forests, teetering on the edge of razor-thin cliffs beneath towering 4,267-metre peaks. Widely recognised as one of the most scenic train rides in America, and powered entirely by steam, its story mirrors the story of the West, and for those who want to catch a glimpse of what life was like back then there are few pieces of living history more authentic than this.
Afterwards, Jeff Johnson, the General Manager of the railroad, will fill us in on its history, and the local secrets of what to do in the town of Durango at the end of the line. We’ll even grab a bite in the Diamond Belle Saloon where you can eat next to a 100-year-old bullet hole in the bar.
But that’s not all, round the corner from Durango is one of America’s most fascinating national parks: Mesa Verde. Home of the ancestral pueblo people between 600 and 1300 CE, we’ll visit the spectacular cliff dwellings where they lived in villages hewn from the rock face.
All aboard for a journey back in time on the most beautiful train ride in America.
FIND OUT MORE
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad: DurangoTrain.com
