The Cumbres & Toltec Railroad
After the Santa Fe Bicentennial Convoy, several of us travelled to Antonito, Colorado to take a ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
The C&TSRR traverses 64 miles between Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado. It crosses the borders of Colorado and New Mexico 11 times as it chugs its way up and over the 10,015-foot-high Cumbres Pass. It was originally constructed in 1880 as part of the Rio Grande’s narrow-gauge San Juan Extension, which served the silver mining district of the San Juan mountains in southwestern Colorado. Through 1969, it was owned and operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway; that year, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted the Rio Grande’s request to abandon its remaining narrow-gauge main line trackage. Through the combined efforts of an energetic and resourceful group of railway preservationists and local civic interests, the most scenic portion of the line was saved. In 1970, Colorado and New Mexico jointly purchased the track and lineside structures from Antonito to Chama.
Today the railroad is operated by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission, an interstate agency authorized by an act of Congress in 1974. and composed of four members, two from each state, appointed by their respective state Governor.
Lewis H. Entz
We were joined on our excursion by Lewis H. Entz, a Korean War veteran; former Colorado legislator; former member of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission, and member of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association.
We travelled on the Antonito Limited. This train travels from Antonito to the midpoint at Osier Station; after a hot lunch there, it returns to Antonito. This ride scratched an item off my bucket list but added a new item: at some point I hope to go back and experience the full line of 64 miles between Chama and Antonito.
Antonito Depot
Antonito Depot
We left Antonito at 10 am on July 9th, 2021, behind Engine № 489.
Engine № 489
C&TSRR № 489 is a K-36 class 2-8-2 Mikado-type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1925 for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). It is one of five former D&RGW class K-36 locomotives currently owned by the C&TSRR. № 489 was converted to burn oil instead of coal while it was undergoing a Federal Railroad Administration-mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection, and was returned to service in June 2021, shortly before our excursion.
Leaving Antonito, we headed towards our first crossing of the Colorado-New Mexico border.
Leaving Antonito behind № 489
To climb the grade, the tracks curve back and forth across the face of the slope.
Climbing out of Antonito
We passed Lava Tank and then went through a series of curves called The Whiplash.
Lava Tank
At Sublette, New Mexico, the fireman took on water while the engineer checked the bearing temperatures. This railroad town was built as a section station in 1880. Once the line was completed, the camp served as a section crew station town, a base for the crew that maintained the track for the railroad. Structures included a section house for the foreman and his family; two bunkhouses for the section crew; a coal bunker; a speeder shed, and a water tower.
Filling the water tank
Checking the bearing temperatures
During the operating season C&TSRR work crews still stage out of Sublette.
Work crew on passing track
The central portion of the line rides above Toltec Gorge.
It passes thru Mud Tunnel,
Mud Tunnel
past a rock formation called Grandma & Grandpa
Grandma & Grandpa
thru Rock Tunnel
Rock Tunnel
and past the Garfield Memorial. This memorial was erected at the spot where the Association of General Passenger and Ticket Agents held an impromptu memorial service for assassinated President James Garfield on September 26, 1881 (the same day that funeral services for him were held in Cleveland, Ohio).
Garfield Memorial
From this point the tracks descend to Osier, an old railroad settlement and train stop approximately halfway along the C&TSRR where trains from both ends of the line meet and stop for lunch.
Osier, Colorado
After lunch we rode along the same stretch of track back to Antonito.
The next morning, my daughter and I returned to the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico via the Valle Vidal Road, since I’d missed that portion of the convoy. We loaded the Jeep and headed to Las Vegas, NM for the night. With the power failure the night the convoy was there we hadn’t really been able to experience the town.
My daughter’s internship in Dixon, NM was starting on July 15th, and we took a few days to decompress at an an AirBnB. The committee chairman from the Sea Scout unit I volunteer with had been up on the mountain at Philmont Scout Ranch while we were on the convoy. On July 14th I ran back over to Cimarron to pick him up to accompany me on the drive back to Houston.
Sounds like a fun trip, and one that’s now definitely on my list.
In July 1989 I drove my ’64 Rambler American out west from Kenosha, with the Cumbres & Toltec being one of my main destinations. I boarded in Chama, NM and rode as far as (I think) Osier; I didn’t do the full 64 miles. A hugely memorable trip.
This is a highly recommended trip for anyone who is into trains, mountains, or just history. Also make sure to make time to go to the Royal Gorge!
That sounds like a true memory maker you share with your daughter. I am so glad you took the time
To share this with us.
We’ve done the Durango-Silverton train, but the Cumbres-Toltec is still on the To Do list.
You need to, Paul. You seem to be a knowledgeable rail enthusiast and would appreciate the C&TS. Casual tourists are more the target market of the D&S.
The C&TS is also more a mountain railroad, and presents more operating challenges and more varied and spectacular scenery.
BUCKET LIST! You have whetted my appetite. What a fun trip! Thanks for oyur essay. Tom
I highly recommend this National Geographic short film. It’s about 10 minutes, and really captures the spirit of the C&TS. Just rode it this past Tuesday, June 6, and will again in September.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEIWJXQDQpM
Jeff Dunning
With all this interest I should ask them for a commission :LOL:
I’m glad that you found my departure from our standard fare enjoyable.
The video does a better job then my handful of photos.
Great post – definitely on the to-visit list…
I was a professional tourist for years and rode this train twice. If you haven’t ridden a train like this – the Antonito train is fun and exciting. The scenery is not as dramatic as the Durango Silverton train however. I’d rather drive a nice car and enjoy the train from the outside however – for both trains in Colorado.
Interesting, I just peeked at my map program and it still shows the route and tracks, and crossing state lines 11 times.
Steam engines are of course obsolete and have been for many years, but in spite of and perhaps because of it, they’re so fun. I rode the Durango and Silverton, oh jeez, almost 20 years ago now and it was fun, but by the return trip in chilly, rainy, drizzly weather it was not as much fun. What did strike me is it seemed like everyone we passed stopped what they were doing and waved at us. This for a train that made 2 round trips a day and many of the people were waving from their back yards.
That area of northern NM and southern CO is one of my favorite places. It still has an old west feel, certainly as compared to the overdeveloped I70 corridor. There is some great camping and fishing in nearby Platoro, and the drive down Hwy 17 is quite nice too. I remember we had to stop and let some ranchers herd a cattle train through when we drove through there.
In 1997 (the only time I got up that way) on my trip back from South Dakota, I stopped in to visit a former co-worker of mine who’d moved to Centennial Co (it was Littleton when I visited, he lives in the same place but the town changed names), and got a chance to ride this section. It’s my only time on a steam train and almost my only one on a domestic train (have ridden trains in Europe and Japan) other than a short trip on one during a field trip in grade school up in Burlington, Vt (that line is no more).
I wondered how they filled the water tanks (not the one on the train, but the one that fills it) in such a remote area…do they have wells and wind power to get the water up there? Sorry the question didn’t occur to me at the time of that ride.
What I remember about the trip, I drove from my home in central Texas up to South Dakota and back through Colorado and New Mexico, and was only on interstate for about 100 miles out of about a 2200 mile trip. I wasn’t avoiding interstate, it was just the shortest route by mileage had very few stretches on any…some in Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, but only drove them short stretches. Also remember the road construction in Custer SD, road was all mud, it was very slippery (guess I’ve lived sheltered life, never having driven much on dirt)….stained my pants leg every time I got into or out of the car till I could hose it off. Don’t want to drive on that length of mud road again.