Over Coal Bank Pass & Molas Divide

August 22 Chris & I took advantage of the free breakfast at our motel and then quickly headed for the Durango & Silverton Station. I had purchased no tickets in advance. Click on the pictures for a larger version. Once there, click on BACK to return to this page. But first we had to take a picture of this. I managed to get tickets for a Goose Ride and a round trip to Silverton behind the Bumblebee (one of their engines is painted in special black and yellow livery just for Railfest each year)... I was pleased. We spent the morning watching trains and visiting the museum. Chris chatting with one of the railroad's publicity guys. The first time I'd ever seen a real Goose in operation. #5 sounded like a Higgins Boat roaring across the street. Inside the roundhouse, #481 has been disassembled and is being covered with insulation. We watched as the crew pulled a deluxe coach out on to the turntable and shunted it off to a different track, then wandered over to a "motocycle" bar/eatery and had lunch. I wanted to time the trip from Durango to Silverton by road, as our Goose tickets were for 8:00 A.M. the next day... at the depot in Silverton. So, after lunch we headed up the Animas valley, and over Coal Bank Pass and Molas Divide. There was some road construction near Silverton, and lots of places where we could get stuck behind slow moving campers and trucks. My Pan of Molas Divide (BE CAREFUL: the large version of this one is enormous) Strangely, there were two other guys who looked remarkably like Chris up there. Chris took this shot of me taking the above set. While paused for one way construction traffic, we got this shot of Silverton. Our first stop was the Silverton Public Library (OK I'm a library nut... but we did check our email). I was reminded of a country store, where all the locals came in to sit around the pot bellied stove... In this case it was the check out desk and a cheerful librarian. Downstairs was a pleasant quiet reading room. Their computers were named after the three stooges. I checked my emails on Moe. Storms threatened but never came. Chris had been reading tourist brochures and soon we found ourselves attending the evening performance of the Silverton Gunfighters Association... which was very well done and lots of fun. Chris wanted me to take this picture to verify the source of the Garter he was bringing home to Heather. Later we explored and supped among the rocks by the Animas... beneath Kendall Mountain.