Through the Rockies, not around them. So proclaimed the motto of the Denver & Rio Grande, later known as the Denver & Rio Grande Western. In order to accomplish that goal, the D&RGW laid ... (more)

Taking it slow.... D&RGW Locomotive #478 slowly eases a late afternoon Silverton Mixed around the horseshoe curve, on the High Line in Rockwood, CO. Her engineer has her doing about 5 mph... (more)

The Silverton. The throaty bark of a D&RGW K-28 Locomotive echos off the nearby hills as she struggles up the 2.5% grade between Hermosa and Rockwood, CO with an early morning Silverton Tra... (more)

Shake and rake. With the Fireman in the cab vigorously working the grate-shaker, Engineer Soni rakes the red-hot cinders and coals from the ash pan of Locomotive 315, while Assistant Firema... (more)

That others may live..... Running a fleet of 90+ year-old steam engines that have to work just as hard each day as they ever did back in the steam era is a very difficult endeavor to sustai... (more)

Double-heading to Cumbres Pass. There are not many places left in the US where you can see steam double-headers in regular, revenue service. Some tourist railroads and museums run them on ... (more)

Steamscape: Tanglefoot Curve. Train 215, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad's daily westbound out of Antonito, Colorado, slowly ascends the eastern leg of Tanglefoot Curve, with the vast ... (more)

Water for a thirsty horse. A Denver & Rio Grande Western K-36 brings her freight to a halt at Cresco Tank, approximately 4 miles and 900 vertical feet below Cumbres Pass. In days of old, t... (more)

Steamscape: Coxo. The morning sun is still behind the ridges to the east as D&RGW K-36 #488 claws her way past the little yellow telephone box at Coxo, with a short Cumbres Turn. The tempe... (more)

Phabulous Phantom! The volcanic spires of Phantom Curve tower over a diminutive D&RGW C-18 Consolidation as she slowly plods westbound with a train of empty stockers headed for Chama. This... (more)

The shadows are getting long and the daytime cumulus clouds are rapidly melting away, as Stock Extra 315 sidles up to the water tank in Antonito, CO for a top off, before bedding down for t... (more)

Westbound oil cans. Denver & Rio Grande K-27 #463 hauls a string of oil cans and other mixed freight bound for Chama via Cumbres Pass. The train is climbing a steady grade on the northern ... (more)

Desert Dawn. A Denver & Rio Grande Western Freight runs westbound out of Antonito, Colorado at sunrise on a chilly, October morning.

Tying up in Silverton. Denver & Rio Grande Western Consolidation #315 spends the night at the platform in Silverton, Colorado, with K-28 #473, after a day of operations in the Animas Canyon... (more)

45 miles thru the Animas Canyon.... Dwarfed by the towering cliffs above, Train 461 - "The Silverton" winds her way along the Rio de las Animas Perdidas, just south of the Needlet... (more)