The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a tourist line in Southwestern Colorado.
Trains travel over the 45 mile long Silverton Branch of what was formerly part of the Denver and
Rio Grande Western Railroad’s Narrow Gauge System. First constructed in 1881 to haul passengers
and freight traffic related to silver mining activities in the mountains north of Silverton,
tourism has been the main business for the railroad for well over half a century.
While trains have been pulled almost continuously by coal powered steam locomotives since the line’s
inception, the Durango and Silverton has made some additions to their fleet in more recent years
in an effort to mitigate fire danger during the dry season. In 2019, the railroad announced
the acquisition of four narrow gauge diesel locomotives from the White Pass and Yukon Route,
another tourist line located in Skagway, Alaska. These are model number DL535 units built in 1969
by the Montreal Locomotive Works, which was the Canadian subsidiary of ALCO. White Pass is in the
process of replacing their diesel fleet with brand new locomotives, so these units were available as
surplus. Locomotives 101 and 107 were shipped by barge from Alaska to the port of Bellingham,
Washington in the spring of 2020. From Bellingham, they were eventually shipped by truck the rest of
the way to Durango, Colorado. Locomotives 103 and 106 were shipped during the Summer of 2021.
Once in Durango, locomotive 107 received some work and was quickly pressed into service in late 2020
with the 101 entering in mid 2021 following a full repaint. Let’s visit the Durango and
Silverton for a look at these first two unique and historic narrow gauge diesels in tourist service.
Hey everyone, thanks for joining me for this trip to the Durango and Silverton.
For more information on the railroad, check out durangotrain.com. If you enjoyed the video and
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I’ll be back next Friday at 9 AM Pacific time for an all new railroad themed adventure
right here on the YouTube channel. That’s it for now. Until next time,
Im Mike Armstrong. I’ll see you down the line! Thanks for watching.