The single track hugs the canyon walls overlooking the Animas River. Because of snow covering the tracks, we could not go all the way to Silverton; but were limited only to a 5-hour, 52 mile round trip to Cascade Canyon.
The train is powered by a vintage coal-fired steam locomotive and the line has been in continuous operation since 1881. The railcars we rode in dated back to that time period giving us a feeling we were living in the past. A nice touch that Joan liked was a map of the entire route on the ceiling of the railcar.
When we arrived at Cascade Canyon, we of course had to turn around. Since it was only a single track, I was wondering how they would pull it off. Our railcar "flight attendant" explained that they use what is called a "wye" system....very simple. Draw a Y on a piece of paper and trace yourself coming up the stem proceeding up the right hand side and then back down and up the left hand side. Then back down again and voila! you are heading down the stem in the opposite direction. Brilliant, right? And we witnessed it in action. Joan was as taken by this as she was when we went through the locks on the rivers in France.
Once we got turned around, we had about 40 minutes to get off the train and explore. You will see us standing on a footbridge over the Animas River, a close look at the river itself and me standing in front of the engine. Other pictures try to give you an idea of what we saw from the moving train, hugging the wall and looking down at the river. AWESOME!
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