Part 4: Alamosa to Chama                                Railway Pages Index

Sounds backwards, but this is the normal route for this part of the tour. Driving from Denver via Cañon City, visit the locomotive and passenger car on display at Alamosa. (I assume it is still there – my photos are from 1994).

_

Then on to Chama, NM to board the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad for the all day trip to Antonito, CO. You need to be in the Chama Yard as early as possible to see all the action before departure. You can ride the train from Antonito to Chama if you wish, but it is less interesting as there is no double-heading on the grades. Counting the lunch stop at Osier, the train averages only 8 mph for the 64 mile journey. Watch for cattle on or near the tracks and other wildlife.

Chama was a major Division point for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad’s San Juan Extension, built in 1880. From here tracks were laid to Farmington, NM and to Durango, CO and from there to Silverton, CO. The last San Juan Express ran in 1951 and the last freight in 1968. Oil field traffic to Farmington had kept the line alive long after the original mining activity had died out.

The C&TS took over the Chama to Antonito portion of the line over Cumbres Pass (10,015 feet) in 1969 and the first excursion train ran in 1970. The railway is owned jointly by the States of Colorado and New Mexico and operated by an independent third party. The C&TS crosses the Colorado – New Mexico border 11 times.

Volunteers from the Friends of the C&TS provide maintenance and fund raising. C&TS has rebuilt a number of D&RGW K-37’s for use on the line and has built its own excursion passenger cars on old standard gauge flat car frames. Lots of other MOW equipment is parked in the Chama Yard, including two rotary snow plows and the derrick car. Photos below are from 1994.

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

Websites of Interest
http://www.cumbresandtoltec.com/
http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/

Continue to Part Five

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.

"I am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27, HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940, the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece. I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books, covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk, ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience, my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."