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The Durango and Silverton

Had a very early start on the 27th; alarm went off at 6:20am! Was on the road by 6:45 and into Durango just after 7 to collect my Fall Photographers Special tickets. Was supposed to collect them by 7, but had to stop off on the way for some snacks, and then when arriving at the station found there was a $7 parking fee! So I wasn't impressed when I arrived at the ticket counter and had to wait ages for the guy in front of me to leisurely book his tickets. But got tickets ok and boarded the train and we were soon on our way. Soon became apparent that there was no open carriage on this train which made no sense at all, after all on a photographers special chances are one or two people might want to take photos without having to awkwardly lean out a window! And what really topped it off was when the conductor mentioned that there were still a few tickets available to the night photo special, yet when I'd booked a week earlier the lady on the phone had said they were all full! So I coul...

Alamosa to Durango

Another day, another train trip! Gosh life is tough down here in southern Colorado. Woke up bright and early for the Potato Train on the 26th, a mixed freight from Alamosa to Monte Vista. Got our tickets and also purchased a San Lois and Rio Grande cap and tee-shirt, as their clothing was much nicer than the C&T stuff. Went down to the station after that, met the conductor who said we still had a good 15 minutes to kill before departure, so we went across the road to the local farmers market. Lots of veges, a beautiful husky, watermelons the sized of basketballs, some crochet, and other assorted small town trinkets. Went back and boarded our train. We made up half the passengers! It was very low key and fun, and had a good chat with the conductor. When he heard we were off to Durango he drew us a map and timetable so that we could follow the Cumbres and Toltec and chase it into Chama, NM. Bit of a railfan himself obviously :-)

So we trundled along the line in a massive ...

Cubres and Toltec

Another early start on the 25th, this one not so bad though. Was originally booked on the 8:15am train to Antonito, but the SL&RG needed the loco for other things so the train was cancelled. We were quite possibly the only ones booked on it if the train to Monte Vista was anything to go by. So drove down there with absolutely no idea where the station was, but as soon as we entered town I saw a plume of smoke so it was pretty easy to find. Got our tickets and went to admire the train.

Now this is a proper steam loco! Baldwin built (same as some of the nicer NZ steam locos), Rio Grande heritage. 2-8-2 wheel configuration, simply massive snow plough and bristling with pumps, pipes, valves and so forth. Every minute or so something deep inside of her would wurr at quite a low frequency which made her sound like she purring.

We soon boarded (Angela dragging me away from the front of the train) and had our tickets punched. Ther...

La Veta Pass

Woke up bright and early to a cold foggy morning on the 24th, packed up and headed off for our free hot breakfast. Apart from the crunchy bacon, it was ok. Then we headed on down to the San Luis and Rio Grande Railway depot and collected our tickets. Asked if we could upgrade to dome class which was no problem, except my card wouldn't read so we got it for free; the tickets lady said it was our reward for coming all the way from New Zealand :-)

Boarded the train, climbed up into the dome car and with a long whistle we were off. Our steam engine chuffed out into the fog and soon we were trundling along at our top speed for the day: 30 mph. There were quite a few photographers out waiting for us; the photos would've been amazing with all the steam and fog. It really was like something out of a dream with all the swirling clouds of white!

After about 45 mins we started climbing the hills at the start of the La Veta Pass. Our conductor was in the carriage with us givi...

Colorado Springs to Alamosa

Woke up late this morning very tired, must've been a busy day yesterday! Set off for a Walmart to stock up on food, and once again were dismayed by what American supermarkets lack; no tasty bread things like pizza bread or even cheese buns, and apparently almost no dips (we bought some bread sticks without any dip… they're very dry!)

After that we went to try and find one of the local model train shops, and found the old Colorado Springs railway depot which is a lovely yellow wood/brick building. Had a Denver & Rio Grande (no Western) loco in the park opposite, and a Rio Grande caboose was coupled to an ex-Southern Pacific loco on the main line outside the station. But the train shop was shut :-( So went off looking for a polar fleece for Ange after hers went missing, but didn't have much luck there either. So went to a Best Buy for some electronics retail therapy, and made some enquiries about Zune HDs which are the coolest and hottest new thing in MP3 players. ...