I must confess... my return trip on the D&SNG was not blissfully content... just exhausted & cinder covered. And this from riding in the luxury coach at the rear of the train. Going round trip on the same day was too much.
It did give me a real appreciation for my ancestors. In comparison, we’re all a bunch of wimps.
My wife and kids would agree with you. They were burned out and none too happy. We were in an open air car (both times I've ridden the D&SNG were in an open car). My eyes were on fire from cinders but I was talking with some railfans from India who'd come all the way to ride the Silverton. We were discussing the history of the line, the geology of the place, and so on. In that area below Hermosa where the Valley of the River of Lost Souls opens up, the track is straight and the grade is down, and the engineers can really kick their heels into those Ks and make 'em sprint. You're still bouncing on jointed narrow gauge rail so it's hardly the Acela and you may have to reshuffle your internal organs after you detrain, but for me...cinders and exhaustion aside...I could have kept on going all the way to Alamosa if the tracks were still there and I wouldn't have complained.
On the list of happy places I can always steal myself away to in a moment of internal reflection, somewhere below Strasburg is the D&SNG at the end of a long day of narrow gauge goodness. I do prefer the ride up to Silverton to the ride down, but sprint down the Animas Valley is not without its charms. A camera full of photos and the prospect of dinner and drinks at the Strater Hotel in Durango sweetens the deal. Actually, last time I actually rode the train we did a chuck wagon dinner at the Bar D...but we probably could have done that a different night when we were better rested. I was last in Durango in September 2018 after the mudslide severed the line between Rockwood and Durango and while the depot area was dead quiet, the Colorado brook trout and martinis at the Strater were worth the trip. We'd just come in from tracing the RGS grade.
