Posted on 12/24/2019 9:36:01 AM PST by CedarDave
The Durango and Silverton Railroad presents its annual Christmas Polar Express train. This one is for the children as the four minute video combines snow, steam and Santa in one of the best videos based on the popular children's book.
Enjoy!
Mrs. R2 and I rode the Durango and Silverton Railroad September a year ago. It was fantastic.
We want to do the Polar Express route sometime.
There is one that goes out of Carson City up to Virginia City in Nevada as well. May not be as scenic as the one in Silverton. And the train out of Chama New Mexico is also a beautiful ride. Cumbres and Toltec IIRC.
Ride and enjoy while you can. Like the passenger trains before them, tourist railroads and excursions are endangered. Regulation, liability, and environmentalism is threatening this nostalgic piece of Americana.
And the train out of Chama New Mexico is also a beautiful ride. Cumbres and Toltec IIRC.
___________________________________
Yeppers. Actually we liked the Cumbres and Toltec much better.
Did both and the train to the Grand Canyon. Great stuff.
We rode it many Thanksgivings ago. So cold the camera froze up.
They are going to run diesels during the dry fire seasons was the last I heard about it.
Road it a couple times many years ago...cool stuff. I know they were trying to get a multi-million $ lawsuit filed against them(wildfire)dismissed.
We rode it in July several years ago. It really is the Polar Express.
FMCDH(BITS)
The Grand Canyon Train.
That’s what we want to do next.
We’ve taken it round trip twice and OH MY.
The views are breathtaking.
I never rode the mountain trains i Colorado. I did ride the Chief from Newton Kansas to Lamar, CO once. I loved that ride.
Anyway,if anyone happens to be in the Gunnison, CO area there is a railroad museum on the main highway that’s well worth the time spent to visit..kids especially even though it’s not exactly a children’s attraction. The history of building those railways was something else! That’s what makes it a good spot for older kids..8 and up. What the cosr was to lives and families to develop this country is basically an untold story that we take for granted. Kids should know.
I’ve never had any interest in trains or rail history, and we only stopped there on a lark and I’m glad we did.
The last steam train I was on burned used engine oil even though it was designed for coal.
A clever engineer can make nearly any fuel source work for a boiler. A few minor modifications is all it takes.
I would guess the holiday train only goes as far as Hermosa (the flat part of the line).
Children can only sit still for so long
Yeah, a lot of them have been switched over to oil. Many of them built in the late 30’s and early 40’s came that way from the factory. Watching one running on coal and how it was done is still a real treat to see though.
This is the engine I was referring to.
Stettler to Big Valley Choo-Choo:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.