Silverton Northern Railroad

The Silverton Northern Railroad, now defunct, was an American Narrow Gauge Railroad constructed to reach the mining area north of Silverton, Colorado along the upper Animas River. This line was the third railroad project built by known Colorado toll road builder and Russian Immigrant Otto Mears, beginning in 1889 as a branch of the Silverton Railroad to Eureka. Incorporated in 1895 as the Silverton Northern Railroad, the line was projected to run past Eureka to Animas Forks and on to Mineral Point and then on to Lake City via Henson Creek, including a proposed three-quarter-mile tunnel through the mountains. However, Animas Forks was the end of the line, which was reached in 1896.
Operations on the line were seasonal, due to the tremendous amount of snowfall that was typical in the San Juan region. The Silverton Railroad and the Silverton Northern while never officially merged, were operated as one entity, sharing rolling stock and motive power. In 1915, the Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly Railroad built by the Gold King Mine, was purchased by Mears, becoming the SN's Gladstone Branch.
The railroad managed to survive bad weather and fluctuating metals markets for years, the Silverton Railroad being dismantled in 1926 after several years of inactivity, and the main line was cut back from Animas Forks to Eureka in the late 1930s. Finally, in 1942, while the mines were idle and US involvement in World War II was increasing, the remaining SN equipment was requisitioned by the US Army for use on the White Pass and Yukon Route during the hurried construction of the Alaska Highway, and the rails were torn up for scrap.
The San Juan County Historical Society is planning on rebuilding the section between Silverton and Howardsville.

Roster

Number/Name	Builder	Build Date	Notes
1	Strover	1908	Built by Stover. Dismantled around 1940.
Casey Jones	Home Built	1904	Built at the Sunnyside Shops at Eureka, Colorado. Original purpose was an ambulance. Preserved in Silverton. Not Silverton Northern.

Number	Builder	Build Date	Notes
#1005	Home Built by D&RG	1880	Originally Denver and Rio Grande caboose #17. Sold to the Silverton Railroad in 1895 and retained the same number. Transferred to the Silverton Northern at an unknown date and became #1005. Retired at an unknown date and put on display as Silverton, Gladstone, and Northerly #100, only to later be converted to a shed in Silverton. The caboose underwent an extensive restoration in 2014 and is now currently on display.
N/A	Unknown	Unknown	Originally Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad #0556. It was sold to the Silverton Northern in 1937 and referred as the Silverton Northern Caboose on 1937. It was not numbered by the SN. It was sold to the White Pass and Yukon Route in 1943 and became #90853. It was wrecked the same year and later converted into a car inspector shack. It was burned in 1958.