A coal-fired, steam-powered narrow-gauge train pulls out of Durango station and climbs 45 miles up the Animas River valley to Silverton, a 19th-century mining town tucked into the San Juan range. The route follows the river through gorges that the road cannot reach, and at one point the train clings to a ledge cut into a cliff face 400 feet above the water.
The full round-trip takes about 9 hours including a two-hour lunch in Silverton. Trains run May to October as steam, with shorter and partly diesel-hauled trips through the winter. The locomotives are originals — coal still goes into the firebox by shovel.