In February 2026, Lerro Photography sponsored a three-day photo charter featuring Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0 #20 visiting the Durango & Silverton Railroad. Lerro Photography also assisted with an additional night session during the railroad’s own two-day sponsored charter. In all, Lerro Photography was on hand for four days of photography and three night photo sessions.
Leading up to the charter, the weather in Colorado had been unusually warm and dry the entire winter. There was no snow along the right-of-way, and temperatures had been in the 50s and 60s for weeks. Even the day before the first charter, while we were brush cutting, temperatures were still in the 50s.
That all changed on the first morning of the photo charter.
As our train departed Durango at 7:00 a.m., snow was beginning to stick to the ground at the station. As we traveled farther north into the mountains toward our first location, a few inches of snow had already accumulated and stuck to the trees, creating a Christmas postcard environment. The morning would switch between sun and bright blue sky followed by snow squalls, giving photographers a full range of lighting conditions. One moment, it was sunny with light, falling snow; the next, we had to shield our lenses from the heavy snow sweeping across the scene. As we dropped back out of the mountains returning to town, the bright sun had melted away almost all the fallen snow, leaving bare ground for the last few afternoon runbys. That evening, we held our first night photo session at the Durango depot.
Heavy snow was beginning to fall again as we boarded for the second charter day, when RGS #20 pulled the flanger and a caboose while photographers rode in a following passenger train. By the time we got up into the Animas River canyon, several inches of fallen snow had created a true winter wonderland for photographing the snow flanger train in action. That evening, a second night photo session was held in the roundhouse and turntable area, this time with snow on the ground. Normally displayed inside the Durango roundhouse museum, Rio Grande Southern 2-8-0 #42 was also pulled outside and posed with RGS #20 for additional photo opportunities.
The third day of the Lerro Photography charter began with blue skies and more than a foot of fresh snow along the railroad. Spirits were high across the photo line, and it was nearly impossible to take a bad photo. We even built a snowman, named him Ophir, and had the train run him over for one of the more memorable moments of the trip.
The fourth and fifth days of RGS #20 charters were sponsored by the Durango & Silverton Railroad. Fortunately, even more snow fell, bringing the week’s total accumulation to nearly two feet. On the evening of the fourth day, Lerro Photography assisted with running the night photo session, helping to close out an unforgettable week of winter steam photography.
