Up on the Roof. That's a bit how I felt the first time I looked through my lens from this position. From a vantage point roughly 100 feet above the old D&RG High Line, and nearly 500 feet above the bottom of the canyon, we watch as a crowded Train 461 eases her Silverton consist out onto the rock shelf on a beautiful Colorado morning. After a bit of hiking to reach this location, I realized that the 18-200mm lens I was carrying probably wasn't wide enough. Oh well, I wasn't about to "run" back to the car to get my 10-24mm. As it turned out, I probably would have had time. Had this train arrived on schedule, a thick bank of cirrus clouds would have really skunked our sunlight. Train 461 would be late today...very late. A hot box on Coach 327 "Durango" would force the train to make a lengthy stop in Rockwood to drop the car on the wye. By the time she made it to the High Line, the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining brightly. Unfortunately, there was no time to move to a different spot to photograph Train 463, for she was right on the heels of 461....and probably carrying some of 461's passengers. As for Coach 327, by that evening, she was back in Durango and already being readied for a return to service.
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are all that remains of the legendary Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge system. Here you'll find some of my favorites from these two beautiful railways.
