Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
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Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Train
Constructed by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1881–82, the narrow gauge line from Durango to Silverton climbs nearly 3,000 feet in 45 miles. It was built to carry ore from mines in the San Juan Mountains, but now the scenic route is a major tourist attraction.
Durango Depot
Instead of building a station at the existing town of Animas City along the Animas River, the Denver & Rio Grande established its own town, called Durango, two miles to the south. Durango became the base for the railroad's final push to reach Silverton.
Animas Canyon
To build the railroad through the Animas Canyon to Silverton, workers had to blast a shelf in the canyon wall high above the river.
Highline Above the Animas River
The shelf above the Animas River, known as the Highline, has been a favorite spot for photographs of the train since its earliest years.
Silverton Depot
The first train rolled into Silverton in July 1882, less than a year after construction started north from Durango. Today the train remains vital to Silverton's economy, bringing in hundreds of thousands of tourists per year.
Rising about 2,800 feet over its famously scenic forty-five-mile route, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was originally built in 1881–82 as part of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s effort to reach the mines of the San Juan Mountains. For decades the line hauled ore from Silverton down to smelters in Durango, but after World War II its business shifted to tourism. Now operated by American Heritage Railways, it continues to be a major tourist attraction in southwest Colorado and has been named both a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Mining the San Juans
Large-scale mining began in the San Juan Mountains after the 1873 Brunot Agreement removed the Ute Indians from the area. The remote and rugged region had rich ores but limited transportation access, making the shipment of those ores slow and expensive. To tap this potentially lucrative market, in 1880 William Jackson Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande Railway started to build the narrow gauge San Juan Extension west from the San Luis Valley. At the time, narrow gauge lines were relatively common in the Colorado mountains because they had rails that were only three feet apart, allowing for tighter curves, cheaper construction, and more efficient operation than the standard gauge of four feet, eight and a half inches. The railroad forged a route over Cumbres Pass to Chama, New Mexico, and then west through the Southern Ute Reservation to reach the Animas River, with the ultimate goal of reaching Silverton.
Originally the Denver & Rio Grande planned to have a station in Animas City, a small farming and ranching town that served as a supply depot for San Juan miners. When the railroad was approaching Animas City in 1880, however, the town rejected the railroad’s requests. Following a pattern that it had used elsewhere, the railroad decided to establish its own town, called Durango, two miles south of Animas City, and locate its station there. The town site was surveyed in September 1880. By the end of the year Durango had 2,000 residents—more than six times as many as Animas City, which became a small suburb of the booming railroad town until the two finally merged in 1948.
Building from Durango to Silverton
In July 1881, the Denver & Rio Grande reached Durango and almost immediately started building the final forty-five-mile stretch up the Animas River to Silverton. The railroad had already acquired the Animas Canyon Toll Road, built a few years earlier to connect Animas City to Silverton, and used parts of the road for its route. Grading started in August, and by October track was being laid north from Durango. The first eighteen miles to Rockwood were relatively easy and had been completed by late November.
After Rockwood, however, the route left the wide valley and entered the steep, narrow Animas Canyon, making construction more difficult. It was also more expensive, with costs reportedly reaching tens of thousands of dollars per mile. In some places the crew had to blast the canyon walls to create a narrow rock shelf for the tracks. With 500 mostly Chinese and Irish workers rushing to complete the line, the grading operations reached Silverton in late spring 1882.
Silverton eagerly anticipated its rail connection to the outside world, which promised to inaugurate a long boom in the local mining economy. On June 27, 1882, Silverton residents heard their first train whistle from a work train about three and a half miles away. A large celebration to welcome the railroad was held on July 4, even though the rails still fell two miles short of their goal. The first construction train finally rolled into Silverton on July 8, passenger service started on July 11, and trains hauled their first ore on July 13, less than a year after work on the line started in Durango.
Profits and Problems
The Denver & Rio Grande line from Durango to Silverton lowered freight rates by more than half, which had its expected effect on the local economy. Silverton’s population soon doubled to 2,000. Mining boomed, with San Juan County reaching $1 million in production in 1885. Over the next two decades, three other narrow gauge lines—the Silverton Line, the Silverton Northern, and the Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly—branched out from Silverton to nearby mining districts. These connections helped spur production in the Silverton area, which hit $3.6 million in 1920.
A variety of natural disasters and human events have conspired to close the rail line from Durango to Silverton, but so far none have succeeded. The route’s remote location and rugged terrain make it susceptible to floods, avalanches, and rock slides. Snow damaged the line in 1905, 1916, and 1928; rocks slid onto the track in 1951; and floods wreaked havoc in 1909, 1911, and 1927. The October 1911 flood was especially severe, with the railroad losing much of its track. The Denver & Rio Grande appealed to famed roadbuilder Otto Mears for help, and with his assistance the track was repaired before the onset of winter.
From Ore to Tourists
The railroad could afford to invest in maintenance and repairs as long as the San Juan mines continued their output, but production peaked in 1920 and declined thereafter. In the 1920s, the narrow gauge lines branching out from Silverton began to consolidate and close; all three were gone by 1941. Meanwhile, passenger rail travel began to drop off as people turned to automobiles and airplanes. By the 1930s, the construction of new highway routes and the 1929 opening of the Durango Municipal Airport meant the railroad was no longer the primary method of getting to and from Silverton. All these changes ate away at the profits of the Silverton line.
After World War II, the line started a slow transformation from hauling ore to hauling tourists. The line gained publicity in the 1940s and 1950s, when Hollywood studios used it to film Westerns such as Across the Wide Missouri (1951). At the same time, the line’s passenger traffic started to grow. Tourists and railroad enthusiasts increased passengers on the line from 3,500 in 1947 to more than 12,000 in 1953. In 1961 the Durango–Silverton line was named a National Historic Landmark, and in 1962 it attracted more than 37,000 passengers during the summer season.
Despite the rise in traffic, the Denver & Rio Grande Western (as the Denver & Rio Grande was known after 1920) remained somewhat ambivalent about the tourist business because it was hoping to sell or abandon the costly and remote Silverton line. In 1962, when the Interstate Commerce Commission denied the railroad’s request to abandon the route, the Denver & Rio Grande Western embraced tourism and started to remake the line to better accommodate tourists. Under the direction of Alexis McKinney, the line was modernized with heavier steel rails; trains added gondola cars for sightseeing, and baggage cars were converted to snack bars. In Durango, the depot was renovated and nearby blocks were turned into a Victorian-style shopping district. In Silverton the train started pulling straight into town instead of backing in, and the rails were extended to Blair Street to deliver tourists directly into town.
Even though the rest of the San Juan Extension from Antonito to Durango was abandoned in 1968, the isolated branch from Durango to Silverton kept running because of its strong tourist business. In fact, its success helped inspire the opening of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in 1971 on a section of the old San Juan Extension route over Cumbres Pass. A flood in September 1970 destroyed more than five miles of the Silverton line’s track, but after repairs the line’s popularity continued to grow. By the late 1970s, it carried more than 120,000 passengers per year.
Today
Not wanting to keep running an orphaned line far from its other operations, in the late 1970s the Denver & Rio Grande Western started a serious search for a buyer. The company found the Florida businessman Charles Bradshaw Jr., who had the money, ability, and interest to acquire the Silverton line and maintain it at a high standard. In March 1981 the sale was announced during Durango’s centennial celebration. The line took on a new name, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and added more trains in the summer as well as a few trains in the winter.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge has proved especially popular among railroad enthusiasts. The line is one of the only surviving narrow gauge routes in the US, and it is prized for keeping that piece of American railroading history alive. The Durango turntable, which dates to 1923, is among the oldest known narrow gauge turntables in the world. The Durango roundhouse, built in 1990 after a fire destroyed the original, is the only known narrow gauge roundhouse to be constructed since 1906.
After Silverton’s last remaining mine, the Sunnyside, closed in the early 1990s, the town became more dependent on tourism than ever before. Ironically, the train became just as important to the town’s economic survival as when it first arrived in 1882, except now it carried tourists instead of carting away ore.
In 1997 Bradshaw sold the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge to a Florida-based entertainment-rail company called First American Railways. First American’s ownership was rocky from the start, with rate increases and other changes provoking fear and distrust in Durango and Silverton. After one year, First American sold the Durango & Silverton line to real estate developer and railroad enthusiast Allen Harper. Harper’s company, American Heritage Railways, continues to operate the railroad today.
Still one of southwest Colorado’s major tourist attractions, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge is often considered among the most scenic train rides in the country and even the world. It draws hundreds of thousands of passengers per year. Because of the railroad’s booming tourist business, more daily trains depart Durango today than at the height of the mining boom a century ago.
10th Grade
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was originally built in 1881–82 as part of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s effort to reach the rich mines of the San Juan Mountains. For decades, the line hauled ore from Silverton down to Durango, but after World War II its business shifted to tourism. It continues to be a major tourist attraction in southwest Colorado and has been named both a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Tapping the San Juan Mines
Mining started in the San Juan Mountains after the 1873 Brunot Agreement opened the area to settlement. The remote and rugged region had rich ores but limited transportation access and no railroads. This made the shipment of those ores slow and expensive. To tap this market, in 1880 William Jackson Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande Railway started to build the narrow gauge San Juan Extension west from the San Luis Valley. At the time, narrow gauge lines were relatively common in the Colorado mountains. They had rails that were only three feet apart, allowing for tighter curves, cheaper construction, and more efficient operation than the standard gauge. The railroad forged a route over Cumbres Pass to Chama, New Mexico, and then west through the Southern Ute Reservation to reach the Animas River, with the goal of reaching Silverton.
Originally, the Denver & Rio Grande planned to have a station in Animas City, a small farming and ranching town that served as a supply depot for San Juan miners. But when the railroad was approaching Animas City in 1880, the town rejected the railroad’s requests. The railroad decided to establish its own town, called Durango, two miles south of Animas City, and locate its station there. The town site was surveyed in September 1880. By the end of the year Durango had 2,000 residents—more than six times as many as Animas City, which became a small suburb of the booming railroad town until the two finally merged in 1948.
Building from Durango to Silverton
In July 1881, the Denver & Rio Grande reached Durango and almost immediately started building the final forty-five-mile stretch up the Animas River to Silverton. Grading started in August, and by October track was being laid north from Durango. The first eighteen miles to Rockwood were relatively easy and had been completed by late November.
After Rockwood, however, the route left the wide valley and entered the steep, narrow Animas Canyon, making construction much more difficult and expensive. Costs reportedly reached tens of thousands of dollars per mile. In some places the crew had to blast the canyon walls to create a narrow rock shelf for the tracks. With 500 workers—mostly Chinese and Irish—rushing to complete the line, the grading operations reached Silverton in late spring 1882.
Silverton eagerly awaited its rail connection to the outside world, which promised to begin a long boom in the local mining economy. On June 27, 1882, Silverton residents heard their first train whistle from a work train about three and a half miles away. The town held a large celebration to welcome the railroad on July 4, but even then the rails still fell two miles short of their goal. The first construction train finally rolled into Silverton on July 8, and passenger service started on July 11. Trains hauled their first ore on July 13, less than a year after work on the line started in Durango.
Profits and Problems
The Denver & Rio Grande line from Durango to Silverton lowered freight rates by more than half, which had a positive effect on the local economy. Silverton’s population soon doubled to 2,000. Mining boomed, with San Juan County reaching $1 million in production in 1885. Over the next two decades, three other narrow gauge lines—the Silverton Line, the Silverton Northern, and the Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly—branched out from Silverton to nearby mining districts. These connections helped spur production in the Silverton area, which hit $3.6 million in 1920.
The rail line from Durango to Silverton has endured a variety of human as well as natural events. The route’s remote location and rugged terrain put it at risk for floods, avalanches, and rock slides. Snow damaged the line in 1905, 1916, and 1928; rocks slid onto the track in 1951; and floods wreaked havoc in 1909, 1911, and 1927. The October 1911 flood was especially severe, wiping out much of the railroad’s track. The Denver & Rio Grande appealed to famed roadbuilder Otto Mears for help, and with his assistance, the track was repaired before winter.
From Hauling Ore to Hauling Tourists
The railroad could afford to invest in maintenance and repairs as long as the San Juan mines continued their steady output, but production peaked in 1920 and declined thereafter. The three narrow gauge lines branching out from Silverton were gone by 1941. Meanwhile, passenger rail travel began to drop off as people turned to automobiles and airplanes. By the 1930s, the construction of new highway routes and the 1929 opening of the Durango Municipal Airport meant that the railroad was no longer the primary method of getting to and from Silverton. All these changes ate away at the profits of the Silverton line.
After World War II, the line started a slow transformation from hauling ore to hauling tourists. The line gained publicity in the 1940s and 1950s, when Hollywood studios used it to film Westerns such as Across the Wide Missouri (1951). At the same time, the line’s passenger traffic started to increase. Tourists and railroad enthusiasts created an increase in passengers on the line from 3,500 in 1947 to more than 12,000 in 1953. In 1961 the Durango–Silverton line was named a National Historic Landmark, and in 1962 it attracted more than 37,000 passengers during the summer season.
Despite the rise in traffic, the Denver & Rio Grande Western (as the Denver & Rio Grande was known after 1920) remained somewhat unsure about the tourist business because it was hoping to sell or abandon the costly and remote Silverton line. In 1962 the Interstate Commerce Commission denied the railroad’s request to abandon the route. After that, the Denver & Rio Grande Western started to remake the line to better accommodate tourists. The line was modernized with heavier steel rails, trains added tourist-friendly gondola cars for sightseeing, and baggage cars were converted to snack bars. In Durango, the depot was renovated and nearby blocks were turned into a Victorian-style shopping district. In Silverton, the rails were extended to Blair Street so trains could unload tourists directly into town.
Even though the rest of the San Juan Extension from Antonito to Durango was abandoned in 1968, the isolated branch from Durango to Silverton kept running because of its strong tourist business. Its success helped inspire the opening of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in 1971 on a section of the old San Juan Extension route over Cumbres Pass. By the late 1970s, it carried more than 120,000 passengers per year.
Today
In the late 1970s the Denver & Rio Grande Western started a serious search for a buyer. The company found the Florida businessman Charles Bradshaw, Jr., who had the money, ability, and interest to acquire the Silverton line and maintain it at a high standard. The sale was announced during Durango’s centennial celebration in March 1981. The line took on a new name, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and added more trains in the summer as well as a few trains in the winter.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge has proved especially popular among railroad enthusiasts, as it is one of the only surviving narrow gauge routes in the United States. The Durango turntable, which dates to 1923, is among the oldest known narrow gauge turntables in the world. The Durango roundhouse, built in 1990 after a fire destroyed the original, is the only known narrow gauge roundhouse built since 1906.
After Silverton’s last remaining mine closed in the early 1990s, the town became more dependent on tourism than ever. Ironically, the train became just as important to the town’s economic survival as when it first arrived in 1882, except now it brought in tourists instead of carrying away ore.
In 1998 the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge was sold to real estate developer and railroad enthusiast Allen Harper. Harper’s company, American Heritage Railways, continues to operate the railroad today.
Still one of southwest Colorado’s major tourist attractions, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge is considered among the most scenic train rides in the country and even the world. It draws hundreds of thousands of passengers per year. Because of the railroad’s booming tourist business, more daily trains depart Durango today than at the height of the mining boom a century ago.
8th Grade
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was originally built in 1881–82 as part of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s effort to reach the rich mines of the San Juan Mountains. For decades, the line hauled ore from Silverton down to Durango, but after World War II its business shifted to tourism. It continues to be a major tourist attraction in southwest Colorado and has been named both a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Tapping the San Juan Mines
Mining started in the San Juan Mountains after the 1873 Brunot Agreement opened the area to settlement. The region had rich ores but limited transportation access and no railroads. It made the shipment of those ores slow and expensive. In 1880 William Jackson Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande Railway started to build the narrow gauge San Juan Extension west from the San Luis Valley to take advantage of a profitable market. At the time, narrow gauge lines were relatively common in the Colorado mountains because they had rails that were only three feet apart. This allowed for tighter curves, cheaper construction, and more efficient operation than the standard gauge. The railroad built a route over Cumbres Pass to Chama, New Mexico. It then went west through the Southern Ute Reservation to reach the Animas River, with the goal of reaching Silverton.
Originally, the Denver & Rio Grande planned to have a station in Animas City, a small farming and ranching town that served as a supply depot for San Juan miners. But when the railroad was approaching Animas City in 1880, the town rejected the railroad’s requests. The railroad decided to establish its own town, called Durango, two miles south of Animas City, and locate its station there. The town site was surveyed in September 1880. By the end of the year Durango had 2,000 residents. Animas City became a small suburb of Durango until the two finally merged in 1948.
Building from Durango to Silverton
In July 1881, the Denver & Rio Grande reached Durango and almost immediately started building the final 45-mile stretch up the Animas River to Silverton. Grading started in August, and by October track was being laid north from Durango. The first eighteen miles to Rockwood were relatively easy and were completed by late November.
After Rockwood, however, the route left the wide valley and entered the steep, narrow Animas Canyon, making construction much more difficult and expensive, with costs reportedly reaching tens of thousands of dollars per mile. In some places the crew had to blast the canyon walls to create a narrow rock shelf for the tracks. With 500 mostly Chinese and Irish workers rushing to complete the line, the grading operations reached Silverton in late spring 1882.
Silverton eagerly awaited its rail connection to the outside world. On June 27, 1882, Silverton residents heard their first train whistle from a work train about three and a half miles away. The town held a large celebration to welcome the railroad on July 4, but even then the rails were still two miles short of their goal. The first construction train finally rolled into Silverton on July 8, and passenger service started on July 11. Trains hauled their first ore on July 13, less than a year after work on the line started in Durango.
Profits and Problems
The Denver & Rio Grande line from Durango to Silverton lowered freight rates by more than half, which had a positive effect on the local economy. Silverton’s population soon doubled to 2,000. Mining boomed as San Juan County reached $1 million in production in 1885. Over the next two decades, three other narrow gauge lines—the Silverton Line, the Silverton Northern, and the Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly—branched out from Silverton to nearby mining districts. These connections helped spur production in the Silverton area, which hit $3.6 million in 1920.
The rail line from Durango to Silverton has endured a variety of challenges from human as well as natural events. The route’s remote location and rugged terrain put it at risk for floods, avalanches, and rock slides. Snow damaged the line in 1905, 1916, and 1928; rocks slid onto the track in 1951; and floods caused disaster in 1909, 1911, and 1927. The October 1911 flood was especially harsh, wiping out much of the railroad’s track. The Denver & Rio Grande asked the famous roadbuilder Otto Mears for help. With his assistance, the track was repaired before winter.
From Hauling Ore to Hauling Tourists
The railroad could afford to invest in maintenance and repairs as long as the San Juan mines continued their steady output. Production peaked in 1920 and declined thereafter. By 1941, the three narrow gauge lines branching out from Silverton were gone. Meanwhile, passenger rail travel began to drop off as people turned to automobiles and airplanes. All these changes lessened the profits of the Silverton line.
After World War II, the line started a slow change from hauling ore to hauling tourists. The line gained publicity in the 1940s and 1950s, when Hollywood studios used it to film Westerns such as Across the Wide Missouri (1951). At the same time, the line’s passenger traffic started to increase. Tourists and railroad fans contributed to a passenger increase from 3,500 in 1947 to more than 12,000 in 1953. In 1961 the Durango–Silverton line was named a National Historic Landmark. In 1962 it attracted more than 37,000 passengers during the summer season.
Despite the rise in traffic, the Denver & Rio Grande Western (as the Denver & Rio Grande was known after 1920) remained somewhat unsure about the tourist business. It was hoping to sell or desert the costly and remote Silverton line. In 1962 the Interstate Commerce Commission denied the railroad’s request to abandon the route. After that, the Denver & Rio Grande Western started to remake the line to offer tourists better service. The line was modernized with heavier steel rails, trains added tourist-friendly gondola cars for sightseeing, and baggage cars were converted to snack bars. In Durango the depot was renovated and nearby blocks were turned into a Victorian-style shopping district. In Silverton the train started pulling straight into town.
Even though the rest of the San Juan Extension from Antonito to Durango was abandoned in 1968, the isolated branch from Durango to Silverton kept running. Its success helped inspire the opening of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in 1971 on a section of the old San Juan Extension route over Cumbres Pass. By the late 1970s, it carried more than 120,000 passengers per year.
Today
In the late 1970s the Denver & Rio Grande Western started a serious search for a buyer. The company found a Florida businessman, Charles Bradshaw, Jr. The sale was announced during Durango’s centennial celebration in March 1981. The line took on a new name, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and added more trains in the summer as well as a few trains in the winter.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge has proved especially popular among railroad fans because it is one of the only surviving narrow gauge routes in the United States. The Durango turntable, which dates to 1923, is among the oldest known narrow gauge turntables in the world. The Durango roundhouse, built in 1990 after a fire destroyed the original, is the only known narrow gauge roundhouse to be built since 1906.
After Silverton’s last remaining mine closed in the early 1990s, the town became more dependent on tourism than ever before. The train became just as important to the town’s economic survival as when it first arrived in 1882, except now it carried tourists instead of ore.
In 1998 Bradshaw sold the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge to real estate developer and railroad supporter Allen Harper. Harper’s company, American Heritage Railways, continues to operate the railroad today.
Still one of southwest Colorado’s major tourist attractions, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge is often considered among the most scenic train rides in the country and even the world. It draws hundreds of thousands of passengers per year. Because of the railroad’s booming tourist business, more daily trains depart Durango today than at the height of the mining boom a century ago.
4th Grade
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was built in 1881–82. It was part of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. For many years the railway line hauled ore from Silverton down to Durango. After World War II, its business shifted to tourism. It is now operated by American Heritage Railway and is a tourist attraction in southwest Colorado. It has been named both a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Mining in the San Juan Mountains
Mining started in the San Juan Mountains after 1873. This area had rich ores—rock that contains valuable metals like gold and silver—but poor transportation made the shipment of those ores slow and costly. In 1880 William Jackson Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande Railway started to build the narrow gauge San Juan Extension west from the San Luis Valley. The railroad built a route over Cumbres Pass to Chama, New Mexico, and then west through the Southern Ute Reservation to reach the Animas River. The goal was to reach Silverton.
At first the Denver & Rio Grande planned to have a station in Animas City. It was a small farming and ranching town that was a supply store for San Juan miners. When the railroad was approaching Animas City in 1880, the town turned down the railroad’s request. The railroad decided to start its own town, called Durango, two miles south of Animas City, and locate its station there. The town site was mapped out in September 1880. By the end of the year Durango had 2,000 residents. Animas City later became a small suburb of Durango until the two united in 1948.
Building from Durango to Silverton
In July 1881, the Denver & Rio Grande reached Durango. It then started building the final 45-mile tract up the Animas River to Silverton. The first eighteen miles to Rockwood were fairly easy and had been completed by late November.
After Rockwood, the route entered the steep, narrow Animas Canyon. It made construction much more difficult. It also cost much more to build. Five hundred workers, mostly Chinese and Irish, rushed to complete the line.
On June 27, 1882, Silverton citizens heard their first train whistle from a work train about three and a half miles away. On July 4, the town held a large celebration to welcome the railroad. Passenger service started on July 11. Trains hauled their first ore on July 13.
From Hauling Ore to Hauling Tourists
In the 1920s and after, the output from the mines dropped and hauling ore fell off. Modern forms of transportation cut passenger travel as well.
After World War II, the line started a slow change from hauling ore to hauling tourists. The line gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, when Hollywood studios used it to film Westerns. Tourists and railroad fans caused a rise in the number of riders from 3,500 in 1947 to more than 12,000 in 1953. In 1961 the Durango–Silverton line was named a National Historic Landmark. In 1962 it drew more than 37,000 passengers during the summer season.
The rest of the San Juan Extension from Antonito to Durango was left in 1968. The branch from Durango to Silverton kept running because of its strong tourist business. By the late 1970s, it carried more than 120,000 passengers each year.
Today
In the late 1970s the Denver & Rio Grande Western sold the Silverton line to a Florida businessman, Charles Bradshaw, Jr. The sale was announced during Durango’s centennial celebration in March 1981. The line took on a new name, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It added more trains in the summer as well as a few trains in the winter.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge has proved very popular among railroad fans. The line is one of the only surviving narrow gauge routes in the United States. It is valued for keeping that piece of American railroad history alive. The Durango turntable was built in 1923 and is one of the oldest known narrow gauge turntables in the world. The Durango roundhouse was built in 1990 after a fire destroyed the original. It is the only known narrow gauge roundhouse to be built since 1906.
In 1998 the Durango & Silverton line was sold to real estate developer and railroad fan Allen Harper. Harper’s company is American Heritage Railways, and it operates the railroad today.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge is believed to be among the most scenic train rides in the country and even the world. It draws hundreds of thousands of passengers each year. More daily trains depart Durango today than at the height of the mining boom a century ago.
