We leave Durango for the wilds of the San Luis Valley... And yet, we have a Durango and Silverton locomotive, well, the Durango Railroad Historical Society's 315, a C-18 originally built for the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad dressed in her 1917 get-up as Denver and Rio Grande 425. Gone is the "western" from Denver and Rio Grande Western, the lettering is yellow, the number plate is now brass, and the Pyle National headlight is replaced with this 'cuckoo clock' style light. We ride both with the 425 solo for Pete Lerro's Rio Grande Charters in 2021 and the Victorian Iron Horse Roundup earlier in the year where she doubleheaders with T-12 168 which had recently been restored and brought home from Colorado Springs.
With the 168, the 425 pulls the historic passenger fleet which includes an RPO, two coaches, and the tourist sleeper.
The views as we catch glimpses of the San Luis Valley, the Sangre de Christo Mountains near Taos, and Mt. Blanca near Alamosa and the Great Sand Dunes National Park, the fourth-highest Fourteener in Colorado. We soar on the highest trestle of the Cumbres and Toltec at Cascade and skirt the edge of the Toltec Gorge. We pierce the Conejos Range at Mud Tunnel
So we leave Yard Limit, There is no need to be a delay in block as there's no distant signal here
0:00 Introduction
2:38 Ferguson's Trestle
3:27 Lava Loop
5:57 Lava Tank
7:06 West of Lava
9:24 Whiplash Curve (westbound)
10:35 East of Big Horn
11:43 Big Horn Wye
13:41 Toltec Section House
14:33 Cascade Trestle
18:19 East of Osier
20:01 Mud Tunnel
21:23 Whiplash Curve (Eastbound)
23:01 Milepost 287
23:48 Antonito Arrival