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Last stop, Silverton

Mountain community bonds awaiting winter

SILVERTON

Saturday marked the last stop of the season for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Silverton, and for some, the end of the line is always a little bittersweet.

It has been a tough year for Silverton, population 600. It is the only town in all of San Juan County, and many of the businesses along Greene Street, the town’s only paved road, already have packed up and moved south for what is typically a brutal winter.

Last spring, the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic stopped short of ending in Silverton, keeping thousands of hungry, thirsty cyclists and their crews from walking their wallets around the tiny mountain town.

But with D&SNG numbers stronger than the previous year, the train tracks created an artery of income.

D&SNG business manager Gary Keil said about 136,000 people board each year, and this summer, numbers were up 3.5 percent.

“We’ve had a great year,” he said.

Margot Early sells art at the Blue Raven Gallery in Silverton, owned by local sculptor Stephen Wolff. She said the town depends on the train.

“We do benefit from the train – everybody does,” she said from under her cowboy hat. The gallery was lined with paintings, sculptures, portraits and landscapes, and people wondered in and out. She said she especially likes the visitors.

“I always like to meet new people,” she said. “They’re excited.”

But not everyone is new. One man she knows uses the train as the first leg for fishing trips in the San Juans.

On Saturday, a fall breeze complemented abundant alpine sunshine, and as soon as the train pulled in, the town transformed from sleepy late-morning to busy afternoon. Three hundred and seventy riders poured onto the dusty streets.

Families took turns posing next to the historic locomotive for pictures and videos. In fact, the entire train crew huddled before the hot, soot-covered engine – it was, after all, the last run of the year – for a portrait.

The train, the steam, the peaks – conductor Ben Barker said he likes to show it off: “People are just amazed. It’s a 1925 steam engine burning coal.”

Back on Greene Street, co-owner of Weathertop Wovens and vice president of the Silverton Chamber of Commerce board of directors, Gary Davis, was tending shop. He said the train adds to the economy, but more important, Silverton is his place.

“The train is a big part of the economy and the vibrancy of summer, that’s for darn sure, but I’m here for the community,” Davis said. “This is my home.”

Davis said the merchants who depend solely on the train for their livelihood are already gone.

“They are not members of the community,” he said. “They’re here for the summer economy.”

Meanwhile, visitors strolled around in a postcard Old West town. Some shopped, some ate, some just wandered side streets. It was a stolen moment for many, a warm mountain weekend afternoon among the peaks and century-plus old buildings with lots of charm.

Robert and Sylvia Marian Lucking seemed to enjoy the atmosphere. Traveling from Albuquerque, they called it a “babymoon.”

“I’m eight months pregnant, and we thought this was perfect,” Sylvia Marian said.

She rode the D&SNG when she was a child, and now she was sharing it with her husband. They said they were looking out for railroad memorabilia for her grandfather, but the funnel cakes were all theirs.

Keil said he sees that a lot – he called it a generation thing.

“People rode it when they were kids, and now they come back when they have kids, and then they come back with their grandkids,” he said.

The last train of the season means things will be slowing down in Silverton saloons and gift shops.

But that’s OK.

Early said she loves the quiet days of winter.

“It’s a different world, but it’s still a really nice world,” she said. “It’s a small community, but that helps you understand that you need people.”

Davis also said he looks forward to winter: a time when the hustle and bustle fades, but life continues in a more measured pace. By spring, Silverton is ready for black billowing smoke, but now it’s time for white powder.

“If the lights are on, the loom is going, and the fireplace is going. Why not check the door handle?” he said.

bmathis@durangoherald.com



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