Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

"A heritage railroad known for scenic trips through the Colorado mountains, including the special Polar Express-themed experience." - Evie Carrick Evie Carrick Evie Carrick is a writer and editor who’s lived in five countries and visited well over 50. She now splits her time between Colorado and Paris, ensuring she doesn't have to live without skiing or L'

"The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad offers a scenic train ride voted the best in the U.S. by USA Today readers. It features a new Highline Express excursion, running in July on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. The route ascends mountain passes over 10,000 feet, travels along the Highline cliff, and passes the Horseshoe Curve. The Highline Express provides coach and open-air gondola seating, a musician onboard, and options for meals. Prices for the ride vary based on seating and age." - Travel + Leisure Editors

"Riding the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a must — no matter when you visit. In the winter, the narrow gauge steam train departs from the downtown Durango depot and makes its way to Cascade Canyon in the San Juan National Forest. Along the ride, guests take in magnificent views of the snow-covered San Juan Mountains while relaxing in heated coaches. The train takes a 60-minute stop at Cascade Canyon, the perfect setting for a fireside lunch, photo opportunities, or a walk along the Animas River before returning to downtown." - Travel + Leisure Editors

"As one of the United States’s most scenic historic railroads, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG), with its jet-black steam-powered locomotives and 1880s-era coaches, travels along the same tracks that miners, frontiersmen, and cowboys journeyed nearly 140 years ago. The Durango & Silverton stretch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was completed in 1882. It was built to transport gold and silver ore from the more than 4,000 mining claims in and around Silverton, Colorado, to the smelters and mills in Durango, 45 miles to the south. But in the 1910s, the Silverton mining boom began gradually subsiding. The D&SNG was then promoted as a scenic route for travelers and tourists. It remains as one of a very few surviving narrow-gauge steam railroads in the United States and is a favorite of railroad enthusiasts. As it leaves Durango, the train’s multiple-chime steam whistle can be heard reverberating throughout the town and along the Animas Valley. As it proceeds north, the train winds alongside the Animas River as it traverses the verdant green pastures of the Animas Valley and then crosses through the spectacular and breathtaking San Juan National Forest. The remote and treacherous route through the mountains includes a dramatic and stomach-churning stretch along the edge of a narrow shelf carved into the sheer granite cliffs 400 feet above the river." - ATLAS_OBSCURA

"As one of the United States’s most scenic historic railroads, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG), with its jet-black steam-powered locomotives and 1880s-era coaches, travels along the same tracks that miners, frontiersmen, and cowboys journeyed nearly 140 years ago. The Durango & Silverton stretch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was completed in 1882. It was built to transport gold and silver ore from the more than 4,000 mining claims in and around Silverton, Colorado, to the smelters and mills in Durango, 45 miles to the south. But in the 1910s, the Silverton mining boom began gradually subsiding. The D&SNG was then promoted as a scenic route for travelers and tourists. It remains as one of a very few surviving narrow-gauge steam railroads in the United States and is a favorite of railroad enthusiasts. As it leaves Durango, the train’s multiple-chime steam whistle can be heard reverberating throughout the town and along the Animas Valley. As it proceeds north, the train winds alongside the Animas River as it traverses the verdant green pastures of the Animas Valley and then crosses through the spectacular and breathtaking San Juan National Forest. The remote and treacherous route through the mountains includes a dramatic and stomach-churning stretch along the edge of a narrow shelf carved into the sheer granite cliffs 400 feet above the river." - ATLAS_OBSCURA