A steam engine, hauling freight cars, makes its way through a snowy wonderland.
The steam engine, #20 from the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, is running southbound near Cascade Creek. The train consists of the engine, the tender, three red boxcars, and two red coach cars, although one coach is almost obscured by trees and the other is mostly obscured by trees. Still, you can see them, if barely. The consist is all varying shades of red, and they certainly stand out in this photograph because almost everything else is white.
Speaking of which, it had recently snowed in the San Juan Mountains, and it snowed a lot. Everything is covered in fresh, pristine white snow. The train is fairly small in this photograph and horizontally and just below center vertically. It is running from right to left, and there’s a good amount of steam coming from the engine.
The Animas River, showing hints of its turquoise color, is running toward us. It runs parallel to the train, then turns and flows toward and past us. On the far bank are heavily snow-covered pine trees. On the bank are snow-covered rocks. Behind the train are steep rocks, mostly snow-covered, of the canyon wall.
So the cheery red train is headed through a winter wonderland of a scene, and does it ever stand out.
Keep plowing through adversity.
#photography #train #durango #silverton #railroad #colorado
