Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
Narrow Gauge Steam Engine Ride
Chama, NM – Antonito, Colo.
Sept 14-16, 2009

The wife and I decided to go do something different and ride a steam engine train down on the NM/CO boarder. I originally planned to ride the Goldwing motorcycle down there and back, but as I watched the weather, the percent chance of rain kept increasing and increasing. When it started hitting 50-60 and 70 percent on the ride there and back, I figured it was time to take the car. She will ride on the bike, but it is not her favorite thing to do and getting wet while doing it, is defiantly low on her list of fun.

So we gathered up Monday morning and headed south and promptly ran into a rainstorm. “Look at that – right away – rain,” she says. “Ah it wasn’t much – I didn’t even have to turn on the wipers,” I countered. Well we headed south to Monticello and then on to Blanding where we stopped in the park for a short break. Then just a little ways south of Blanding we turned west on a paved road that heads for Aneth and Montezuma Creek. It was just a different way to go.

Eventually we got down to the site of the 4 corners monument. I had been there last year, and the wife did not need to see it again, and besides, we have learned that it is not truly the site of the 4 corners, so we passed it by and continued south just a bit, before turning west towards Shiprock, NM. Another little rain storm here.

We thought about getting lunch in Shiprock, but didn’t see anywhere we liked so we continued on to Farmington, NM. Most of the time I just pass quickly through Farmington but we stopped at a Walmart for a break and they had a Subway there, so we got lunch. Just on the east side of Farmington is a wildlife museum that I heard is pretty interesting to see, but we go there too late for a tour, but just a little further on we came to Bloomfield and there was a historical museum with a large Indian ruin to look at. So we stopped there.

This site was called Salmon Ruins. It was a pretty good set of ruins where an ancient village once stood. We liked the way the rock walls had been built with large stone layers spaced with little stone layers. It gave it a nice effect. We checked out this site for an hour and then continued east towards Chama.

Big black clouds just west of Chama. Yea, I was glad I was not on the motorcycle, but surprisingly, we got into just a little bit of rain and then the road turned away from the main cells and we got into Chama without getting rained on too much. “We could have made it dear on the motorcycle” I said. All I got was a deep glare in return. We stayed at a place called River Bend Lodge. It was nice. They had about 20 motel type rooms and 7 cabins at this lodge. We were in a room. It was on the bend of the Chama River and you could go for short walks. It rained in town when we went to dinner a few hours later. “Yep” she said sarcastically “the bike would have been a lot of fun”.

We woke up to beautiful weather the next morning. We had to be at the train station shortly after 8am, so we where there by 8:15. There are several options for taking this train ride. You only ride the train one direction – either from Chama to Antonito or from Antonito to Chama, and you get bussed the other half. We chose to bus to Antonito and then ride the train back. They are prompt and at 0830 we were loaded and on the way in the bus. It was about a 70-minute ride and it was a beautiful drive. The driver told us different things about the train and country. This train use to be part of the Rio Grande system that was built in the late 1800s. Narrow gauge was used as it was less expensive to build and easier to build in the mountains. This part of the rail line use to connect from Denver over to Durango and Silverton. Most of the track is gone, except for a few short sections like the one between Chama and Antonito. This train is now owned by the states of New Mexico and Colorado and operated by a non-profit group as a working historical museum.

At Antonito we boarded the train. We were in car 13, row 4, seats A&B coach class. They were good seats as most the best scenery was on our side of the train. The train left promptly at 10am after 4 loud whistle blasts, which happened to occur as I was next to it having my picture taken. Ouch! The train makes a slow climb from 7000’ to over 10,000 feet. Average speed is 12mph. It is a steam engine with the firebox fed by coal and it does stop to take on water every so often. One poor guy shovels over 10 ton of coal on the trip to kept the engine going. I bet he is strong.

You do lots of twisting and turning as the train makes it way up the mountainside and eventually gets to a spot called Sublette. Train repair crews used to be stationed about every 7 miles and Sublette was one of the workstations. There use to be bunk housing, coal storage, water storage, etc. at this site. Kind of a lonely place now. On the trip you cross back and forth over the Co/NM boarder about a dozen times. On the train you can stay either in your seat or go ride in an open flatbed car to get a real feel for the country. You just have to be careful about ashes and cinders getting in your eyes. Especially when you go through tunnels.

I had to try a tunnel in the open car. It wasn’t too bad, and there sure was a nifty effect of the steam curling about at the top of the tunnel as you went through. Eventually we came to another workstation called Osier. Here a recent built mess hall was constructed to feed the tourists on the train. Lunch is included in the price of your ticket. They fed you a pretty nice “all you can eat” lunch here with drinks and deserts. You also trade trains here. This is the center point on the trip and if you are riding from Chama to Antonito on the train you also stop here also. But they send the same train back to where it came from at Osier. So after lunch, you board the other train and continue on.

This train ride is high in the mountain looking down on the valleys below. The aspens were just starting to turn colors. At one point you overlook Toltec Gorge, which is a very narrow canyon with a river running through it. It was so relaxing to travel slowly by train like this. Most of the trip is in country that hasn’t changed much since the line was built.

I think the ride up was more fun than the ride down the mountain. The scenic views were better east of Osier, then west, but it was still beautiful. You eventually stop at another workstation called Cumbres for more water. Then you start the long grade down to Chama. Train brakes were noisy though and they were used fairly regularly. You also cross the main highway (the one we took the bus on) several times in this area. There is no RR guards or lights, only the train and its steam whistle – which as mentioned is very loud. Lots of tourists line the roads to take pictures too.

We got into Chama about 4pm. Glad we didn’t have to do the bus ride now. Doing that first was best. After a nap and a short walk, we got dinner at a little diner down the road. The next morning we were up and on the road by 9am. Backtracking just a bit, we headed north to Pagosa Springs for breakfast. There were not many places to eat in that town it seemed, but we finally found a nice little place. It was suppose to be a rainy day, but so far the weather was great. I was boo-hooing a little bit the wife says about not being on the bike. Well it was a nice day.

Durango though was still messy and under road construction. I had come through this area earlier this year on my Silver Highway trip and it hadn’t changed much. Getting out of there I headed for Cortez. Usually I take the bypass that goes by Delores, but this time I didn’t and regretted it, as Cortez was also under road construction.

As we got to Dove Creek and looked west – storm clouds had formed at Monticello. BIG storm clouds. So yea, it was good to be in the car as it was raining hard in Monticello and their streets were also torn up and muddy and it would have been ugly on a bike. Ok I’ll quit boo-hooing. We got home around 3pm to find all well. It was a great trip – except for the fact we had to take the car. :)