The Day After Christmas - Steam on the D&SNGRR

This year Christmas brought fresh snow to the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. As luck would have it, I was in northern New Mexico for Christmas. I decided to head up to Durango the morning after Christmas to chase the Cascade Canyon Winter Train on the Durango & Silverton. It was still snowing when I left and the roads were very icy. Thankfully the folks at the CO Dept. of Transportation were more active than their NM counterparts, as the roads got better as I got closer to Durango.

The drive took quite a bit longer than usual, and I ended up missing the train departing. I was able to catch up to the train - led by K-36 #482 - just north of town. The train was longer than usual with lots of people taking a ride after Christmas. I caught the train at the start of the 2.5% grade at Hermosa, and then shot 2 spots near Rockwood. The sun finally came out in the afternoon, a little before #482 reached the famed high line above the Animas River. Here's a short video of my chase:




-James
[www.steamtrainvideos.com]





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2015 09:52AM by James Parfrey.