Specialty Train for Artists, Art Lovers and History Buffs A collaborative event between the Durango Arts Center and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Train.

Grab your sketch book and ride back into time on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and feel the romance of a bygone era. Experience riding behind a coal-fired engine while listening to the sounds of steel wheels on the track. This interactive workshop is designed for artists, art lovers and history buffs. Three art professionals, Jeff Ellingson, train museum curator, restoration specialist and well known train artist, Elizabeth Kinahan, an oil painter specializing in nature, and Brenda Macon, local art instructor, will give you an interactive guided tour to Cascade Canyon, where the train will stop for two hours.

Unique to the Diesels and Easels experience will be a rare opportunity to have a guided walking tour of two historical landmarks: the Tefft Flag Stop and Sawmill that processed mine timbers and railroad ties from timber cut from spruce-fir forests along Cascade and Lime Creeks and floated to the mill and the settlement of Niccora, a short-lived way station and post office in the 1870’s. Also while at the Cascade Canyon stop, artists have the opportunity to set up their easels and create art inspired by the Animas River, the secluded wilderness setting and, if fortunate, a glimpse of some of the indigenous wildlife such as bear, moose and mountain goats. Our artists and art instructors will be available for one-on-one guidance if you like.

Following the return trip to Durango, there will be a wine reception and art opening in the train museum where you will have the opportunity to display your works in progress alongside the finished works of the three featured artists. Be sure to invite your friends and family to the museum for this wine reception.