National Geographic: Love Those Trains Page #4

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And now we are going with this

train to help the other train.

So, back to Huigra.

Ah, fantastico.

Derailments are common,

but the speeds are slow

and the accidents usually minor.

As a bonus, amateur supervisors

get a chance to see how,

with a minimum of equipment,

a derailed car can be coaxed back

onto its track.

After a change of engines, the train

climbs into the mountains once again.

In the early days of the American west

railroad builders often resorted

to zigzagging switchbacks

to gain altitude.

On this line, a famous switchback

is still in use.

The train has proceeded

as far as it can up the valley.

Now it switches to another track,

and backs up the side of Devil's Nose,

giving passengers on the rear

platform a front-end view.

The train backs around the mountain,

then switches again to climb higher.

Going forward again,

the train has climbed

of the mountain.

At the end of the first day,

the train stops at Riobamba.

For Carla Hunt, a visit to the

market is a fascinating

feature of the trip.

People come from miles around

to sell and buy.

You see things in this market

you won't see anywhere else

in Latin America.

But more than anything else,

I like to wander around and look

at all those beautiful faces.

From Riobamba to Quito,

the train is really a bus on rails.

There are seats inside,

but for hardy train buffs

like Carla Hunt,

there is a much more

exciting vantage point.

The place I like to ride is up

on the luggage rack on top.

That's the best sightseeing seat

in South America.

To go through the mountains and to

climb over the two ranges of the Andes

to go through the beautiful

upland villages

with all the wild changes of

weather on route,

there's nothing in the world like it.

Clouds shroud the peaks of the Andes

as the line climbs high through cuts

in the mountains and then descends

to Ecuador's capital,

the Spanish colonial city of Quito,

to bring to an end one of the world's

most extraordinary train ride

In the United States,

another spectacular train ride

inspired one train buff

to take dramatic action.

The line from Durango to

Silverton, Colorado

was threatened

with abandonment in 1960.

Charles Bradshaw Jr.,

Florida citrus grower,

rescued it in 1981.

Like many a town in the old West,

Durango was created by a railroad.

The Denver & Rio Grande chose the

site laid out the streets,

and sold lots around the depot.

Young people, who share Bradshaw's

enthusiasm for trains, keep it running

I love it. I really love it.

I go home and tell my husband,

I learned all kinds

of new things today.

I would like to be

an engineer very much.

You have to go through

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