Cubres and Toltec

Another early start on the 25th, this one not so bad though. Was originally booked on the 8:15am train to Antonito, but the SL&RG needed the loco for other things so the train was cancelled. We were quite possibly the only ones booked on it if the train to Monte Vista was anything to go by. So drove down there with absolutely no idea where the station was, but as soon as we entered town I saw a plume of smoke so it was pretty easy to find. Got our tickets and went to admire the train.

Now this is a proper steam loco! Baldwin built (same as some of the nicer NZ steam locos), Rio Grande heritage. 2-8-2 wheel configuration, simply massive snow plough and bristling with pumps, pipes, valves and so forth. Every minute or so something deep inside of her would wurr at quite a low frequency which made her sound like she purring.

We soon boarded (Angela dragging me away from the front of the train) and had our tickets punched. There was a roaming docent who told us about sights along the way and was quite clever. A lady came around to take our lunch orders: turkey dinner, meatloaf dinner, or "salads and more". Wow!

We were well on our way now, trundling along at 20mph over the San Luis Valley desert. Saw a coyote slinking between the desert sage brush, he blended in very well with his silver colouring.

Soon we started snaking around in giant lazy esses and some trees were beginning to appear. The esses are there to gain extra elevation and we were gaining it pretty quickly! The steam loco was putting on a great show, lots of chuff here.

Here you can see the track looping back on itself and this is viewed from yet another lever further up the hill. Pretty impressive engineering.

We chuffed along for another hour or so, stopped for water, and then the real scenery started as we entered the big rocks and forests.

Passing mighty rocks / working our way up the mountain

 
Massive cliffs around the canyon / typical model railway scenery!

 
Whole hillsides of Aspens, we're about a week off their peak / train disappearing behind massive fingers of rock

Massive strands of Aspens / about to enter a massive stone tunnel

After exiting the tunnel the train passes extremely close to the edge of the canyon and for a few seconds you can see all the way down. Very impressive sight, very hard to capture though as there is no sense of depth. But here is my attempt:

 
Massive aspen grove with canyon visible behind.

Snow on the far side of the canyon amongst the aspens

Water tower at Osier.

At Osier, the half way point of the trip, the train arrives at the siding and everyone hops off for lunch. They've built a massive dining hall and serve up (with amazing efficiency) a tasty hot lunch to every passenger. There is also a second train from Chama, New Mexico that arrives at the same time, so in under an hour they serve lunch to two entire train loads of passengers! While the passengers are eating the two locos change trains. This is done so that each night the locos switch positions, while the carriages stay at their home depots. Sounds complicated, but it means the heavy carriages stay on the Chama side (the gentler side) and the locos get a thorough going over every second night in Chama.

The Cumbres (pronounced Come-brays) and Toltec straddles the New Mexico / Colorado border, so numerous times on the trip we saw "Now entering New Mexico" signs and vice versa. We passed Toltec from which the railroad gets its name; Toltec however is just a sign and nothing more!

After lunch we boarded the train again and returned to Antonito. There I watched them put the locos away and do some yard shunting. Went and looked at the merchandise store but it was really quite pathetic; very few items were even train related!

Our return loco finishing up for the day at Antonito.

 
Our return loco / 484 and 315 pose outside the depot. 315 is another Rio Grande narrow gauge loco, much smaller than 484 though.

484 and 315 posing at the depot in Antonito.

Hopped in the car and drove home. Meanwhile another light had lit up on the dashboard; this time TPMS was orange which means Tire Pressure Monitoring System… so I found a petrol station with an air pump and checked all the tire pressures, but it wasn't that. After much searching it turned out it was, get this, the FM transmitter we've got to play music through the car stereo! So now I know I can just ignore that light. Weird car, too smart for its own good!

Went out to dinner, this time avoiding The Brewery and went to a funky Mexican restaurant just across the road. And what a restaurant it was! Went in the door and was personally greeted by the proprietor who put his 3 inch high stack of notes down and shook my hand, and the waitresses were all bubbly and happy; there were even a pair of Mexicans playing guitar and singing La Bamba and other classic Mexican songs with mucho gusto. So a very funny and happy environment, no wonder it was pretty much packed. Meanwhile I hardly did the buffet justice, but then I had already eaten a full turkey dinner for lunch.

So a really fun day of Rio Grande steam and Mexican food; doesn't get much more American than that! I can highly recommend the Cumbres and Toltec, after all how many places can you catch a train to nowhere, have a massive lunch, and then catch the return trip back home again?! The docents were great, and the whole train had a fun informal atmosphere about it. We had a great time on it.