In my innocent (?) younger days, I used to dream of a RR beginning at the tail of the wye at Rockwood, which would roughly follow the natural contours northward through what is now the Purgatory ski area, northwest up the east side of Cascade Creek to a trestle just below the waterfall, and then south along one of the natural rock shelves to just below Sliderock Ridge. There a curving tunnel would pass underneath, and then the tracks would head northwest (more or less) to the tail of the wye at Lizard Head - The legendary
Durango,
Trout
Lake and
Telluride, shortcut to the Silver Sahn Wahn ...