Serpentine at Granite Point - a photo on Flickriver

To climb up to Silverton, the only way to get there by rail was to follow the Rio de Las Animas Perdidas. This river is one of the last rivers west of the 100th Meridian to be touched by the battle between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers to impound every drop of water. Today, most of the river still free flows until just south of the Durango Depot where a portion is siphoned off to Lake Nighthorse as part of the Animas-La Plata Project.

Back to the Railroad... For most of the trip the surveyors of the Denver and Rio Grande followed the water level of the Animas, but no easy way could be found through "the box" a sinuous section of canyon with vertical walls. To surmount this, the surveyors cut a route leaving the river at Hermosa and began a 2.5% climb along the glacial cliffs to a stagecoach at Rockwood. From there, the route blasted a cut through a weak spot of the Animas Box, just north of the most gnarly section of the canyon. Even missing this portion, the line famously blasted a shelf into the vertical cliffs today known as the "High Line".

But to get to the new cut at Rockwood, the surveyors used the natural cut of Elbert Creek, carving this shelf track into the small, but sheer granite face here.

Today, in 2023, we catch the 100th-anniversary special of the K-28 Class of locomotives as it charges up the grade with a mixed train. 473 leads this train on the point with sister 476 spliced into the train between the freight and passenger portions of the consist. This mid-train arrangement would allow the train to bypass any weight restrictions on bridges that prohibited two locomotives on any bridge simultaneously.

www.bigdiehlphoto.com/Trains/Durango/Durango-and-Silverto...

Taken in: United States / Colorado / Rockwood (show map)

Taken on: October 16, 2023

Tags:

D&RGW

Durango

Durango & Silverton

Durango Colorado

Denver and Rio Grande

Denver and Rio Grande Western

Steam Locomotive

San Juan Mountains

Steam

Silverton

Steam Train

Locomotive

Railroad

Rocky Mountains

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Sets appears in: • Durango and Silverton

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Camera: Nikon D750, f/8.0, 1/1250 sec, 135mm, ISO 360 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Lens:	70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length:	135mm
ISO:	360
Exposure Bias:	-1 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.0.2 (Macintosh)
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