When I started planning this trip, I had no doubt Dan would want to go on the train ride and I was right! When we checked for available tickets, there were only 2 seats together in a gondola, all the others were taken. We weren’t really happy with the seats, but booked them anyway because we really wanted to go. Boy were we wrong, they were the best seats on the train in our opinion. Our car was in the center of the train, right by the concession car and we were on the end of the bench so we didn’t have to climb over anyone. We could also see the length of the train when we went around curves.
Funny story….while I was in line for concessions, two women asked to have their alcohol put in coffee cups so their parents wouldn’t know what they were drinking. They were sitting next to us, and we found out they were traveling as a family with their brother who has an inoperable brain tumor. He had a super sweet service dog, a daschund named Bella, who wasn’t too happy when they wouldn’t share their food with her.
The train ride is 3.5 hours to Silverton and 3.5 hours back to Durango. We stayed in Silverton for a couple of hours, had lunch at the Kendall Mountain Cafe (great food!), and found the Carnegie library and the Harley store. This is definitely a trip we need to take again. Here’s the link with more info…Durango train.
Bella! 
Jo & Dan's Travels 