DURANGO, Colo. — Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0 No. 20 recently traveled from its home at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. The trip, aboard a semitruck, took the locomotive over Colorado’s 10,222-foot-high Lizard Head Pass, where it once operated. No. 20 last crossed this pass in the 1950s.
The locomotive will pull winter excursion trains on the D&SNG during January and February 2026. The trips will run from Durango to Cascade Canyon. The Presidential Excursion, featuring first-class cars, is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 9. General Excursions are planned for Saturday, Jan. 31 and Sunday, Feb. 1, with standard coaches.
Schenectady Locomotive Works built No. 20 in 1899 for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad. In 1916, it was sold to the Rio Grande Southern for $2,500. The locomotive was overhauled at the Denver & Rio Grande’s Alamosa, Colo., shops before returning to Durango. It then ran between Durango and Ridgeway on the RGS until the line bankrupted in 1951. No. 20 was moved to the Colorado Railroad Museum in 1959 and returned to service in 2020, after a 14-year, $1.5 million restoration. Since then it has operated at CRM and traveled to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
For additional information on the Colorado Railroad Museum, please visit its website. If you are interested in tickets for No. 20’s excursion on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge, information can be found on the railroad’s website.
