It was the great age of railroad expansion in the American west. In 1879 the Denver & Rio Grande Railway began building its San Juan Extension. The rails pushed west from Alamosa, Colorado, heading for the rich mining districts of the San Juan Mountains. The goal was Silverton, Colorado, and in all, the route would total 245 miles.
D&RG's successor, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, ran this route until 1968. Two segments of the line were saved to be operated as historic railroad experiences. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad operates from Antonito, Colorado, to Chama, New Mexico, and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad runs trains between the Colorado towns of its name.
The photographs in this book, shot in the 21st Century, document the trains that run over these two segments. The C&TS over 10,015-foot Cumbres Pass and the D&S through the deep Animas River Gorge to fabled Silverton, Colorado.
Join photographer Sam Furukawa and head west from Antonito, Colorado, on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad to Chama, New Mexico. After chapters on three miraculously restored locomotives: Eureka, D&RGW No. 315, and D&RGW No. 463, continue your journey to Silverton, Colorado, on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge.
Narrow Gauge Preservation Foundation, hardcover with jacket, 176 pages, standard landscape book 10 x 8 in., all-Color photographs with captions. Over 233 new photographs!