Steamscape: The Snowshed Slide. "And by the time you get your hide past the Snowshed Slide.... You've had a ride on the Silverton, The Silverton Train." Those lyrics, penned over 4 decades ago by William Dale Fries, Jr., who wrote and performed his music as "C.W. McCall", refer to this place right here. Just about 4 miles south of its ultimate destination in Silverton, Colorado, the train which is the town's namesake works north in a gusty breeze past the location of the famous Snowshed Slide (MP 492.5) with K-28 #473 on the point.
Rock and mud slides have historically been a big problem on the old D&RGW Silverton Branch. The steep walls of the Animas Canyon, when combined with melting winter snows have often closed the line, sometimes for extended periods. Many of the bigger slides over the years received their own names, such as this one here. Issues with slides are one good reason why they never ran rotary plows on this line. Even the present-day Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad continues to face down the problem and always has contingency plans for evacuating stranded passengers and moving tons of rock to re-open the line.
Photographer's Note: Needless to say, the COVID 19 pandemic has pretty much wiped out steam charter activity in 2020, forcing those of us who love shooting these kinds of photos to dig deep into our "vaults" for photos to edit and post. As I dig through mine, I am finding a lot of frames that I cannot believe I overlooked in the past decade. This particular one is a great example. When I got back from this charter in 2016, I never even gave this one a second thought, and it was not even on my list for this latest series I am doing on the DSNG....until tonight, when I spotted it among a bunch of dark-looking raw files from near the end of the charter's first day. Something told me to spend a minute or two putting a quick Lightroom preset on it and whoa! A few tweaks later and this is one of my favorite images ever from this line. Yes, it's a major bummer that I'm not able to shoot a lot of new photos this year, but the downtime has given me a new appreciation for the stuff I already have in my collection, and I must say I am having a grand time "treasure hunting" in the vault! :o)
Landscape photography is difficult due to the challenge of combining good light and good scenery. Good railroad photography enters another level of complexity since it requires the first two while there is a train in view.
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are all that remains of the legendary Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge system. Here you'll find some of my favorites from these two beautiful railways.
