{"id":48152,"date":"2021-03-08T05:03:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T12:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/train-lovers-rejoice-durango-railroad-will-resume-trips-to-silverton\/"},"modified":"2021-03-08T12:03:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T12:03:06","slug":"train-lovers-rejoice-durango-railroad-will-resume-trips-to-silverton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/train-lovers-rejoice-durango-railroad-will-resume-trips-to-silverton\/","title":{"rendered":"Train lovers rejoice: Durango railroad will resume trips to Silverton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad locomotive did not take passengers to Silverton in 2020, but instead dropped off supplies amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The railroad plans to resume passenger trips in May to Silverton.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In a major breakthrough, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad announced Friday it would resume trips to Silverton in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe the last passenger train that went up to Silverton was in October 2019,\u201d said railroad manager Jeff Johnson. \u201cI can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the D&SNG could operate at only 50% capacity, which meant making the full trip from Durango to Silverton was no longer financially viable. Even if it was, a rainstorm washed out a portion of the tracks last spring, including a bridge, that made trips impossible for eight to 16 weeks.<\/p>\n

The D&SNG operated through the summer, making smaller trips, mostly from the Rockwood to Cascade stations. But for the first time in Silverton\u2019s history, the town went without the railroad for an entire summer.<\/p>\n

Johnson said D&SNG officials worked hard in recent weeks to think of ways to make it financially feasible to offer trips to Silverton this season.<\/p>\n

In the end, the D&SNG decided to increase the number of its high-end seats to offset the cost of losing 50% of its capacity, which is the current capacity requirement, according to public health orders.<\/p>\n

Starting May 22, the D&SNG will send one locomotive to Silverton with up to 165 seats. On busier days, the railroad will add coaches to allow for 265 passengers, Johnson said.<\/p>\n

In a normal year, the D&SNG would send three to four locomotives to Silverton, with room for more than 400 people per train.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to sit down and rethink our business model to come up with a pricing level to afford to bring one train to Silverton,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe guiding light for us was, we need to get back to Silverton.\u201d<\/p>\n

Historically, the D&SNG has been the economic lifeblood for Silverton in the summer, taking hundreds of tourists each day to the mountain town, where they may dine and shop.<\/p>\n

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was concern the town\u2019s businesses would take a financial hit, but DeAnne Gallegos, director of the Silverton Area Chamber of Commerce, said fears did not pan out.<\/p>\n

In fact, the town had record sales tax revenue, Gallegos said, as more people made road trips to Southwest Colorado to camp and visit the San Juan Mountains.<\/p>\n

And based on bookings at RV resorts, campgrounds and hotels, Silverton is headed for another busy season, Gallegos said.<\/p>\n

Adding trips and passengers from the D&SNG will only help boost tourism, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe train is really a two-hour infomercial for Silverton,\u201d Gallegos said, referring to the layover time before passengers go back to Durango. \u201cIt exposes our little community and all the amazing things to do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said if COVID-19 restrictions are loosened over the summer, the D&SNG has operating plans in place for increased capacity. The D&SNG will offer Rockwood to Cascade trips, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that may be an extremely popular trip this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For many in Silverton, the sight of the D&SNG locomotive and sound of its iconic whistle will herald the return of an old friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a major part of our inception, history and daily lives in the summer,\u201d Gallegos said. \u201cI heard from a lot of residents and business owners they just miss the nostalgia of the train coming into our community every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

passenger run to reach historic mining town was in October 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,170,13,28,445,668,327,1187,810],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-48152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-durango-and-silverton-narrow-gauge-railroad-co","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-public-health","tag-silverton","tag-tourism","tag-tourism-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48152"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=48152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}