Just spent a couple of excellent days, with my wife, on my favorite narrow gauge. We rode round trip yesterday (Tuesday) from Antonito to Osier, 489 on the westbound portion and 484 on the return. Westbound, we met the engineer-fireman wanabe train, with the 487, at Toltec. The 487 went through to Antonito, so I had a couple of engines to photo when we got back to Antonito. We then to drove to Chama to do a Chama-Osier round trip.
Today was a very interesting day on the narrow gauge. The train was nine cars out of Chama, what with the Cinder Bear thing, so the train was doubleheaded with the 463 leading the 489. I expected the they would use the 488, but the 489 was used, even though it had come west the previous day. The stack talk was great, of course. I stood on the front platform of the second car all the way to Cumbres and was pelted with a continuous shower of cinders, some of them warm (this is not a complaint). The engines separated at Lobato as usual. The start from the east end of the bridge was smooth as silk, unlike the experience of another poster. The train also stopped at Cresco (Cinder Bear thing again). The start from Cresco was also very smooth. At Cumbres, much to my surprise, the 489 was cut off and sent back to Chama, and the 463 took the train the rest of the way to Antonito. It was nice getting some photos of it crossing the Cascade trestle. We met the 487 returning west at Osier. The west bound passenger had the 484 and the brake test departing Osier was fine, but the air pump was showing signs of trouble. Just past the Cascade trestle, the brakes came on and the train came to a stop. The pump was having a hard time keeping the line charged. They checked for leaks in the line but could not find any. We sat there for a while trying to get the pressure up. Finally, there was enough pressure, and the train departed and made it to Cumbres. At Cumbres, the engineer (Jeremy, I believe - I can't remember his last name) call the dispatcher and told him it was not safe to take the train down the hill with the 484. After some discussion at the Chama end, it was decided to send the 487, which had already made it to Chama, back up the hill. After a while, John Bush arrived, as did a truck with four guys from the shop. They did some tests and the 484 was bad ordered rather quickly. The 484 backed the train east of the road, then cut off and moved out of the way. The bus, that was waiting at Chama to take passengers back to Antonito, came up to Cumbres and took those passengers back to Antonito - I understand they will get a credit of some kind. Another bus came up and collected passengers bound for Chama who didn't want to stay on the train. We stayed on the train with a few others. The 487 finally arrived a little after 5 PM. Only four passengers were left in our car, and before the train departed, we were invited to ride the parlor car down the hill into Chama. There were only 7 passengers on the parlor car coming down the hill, four of them coach passengers, including us. We arrived in Chama at 6:20, only 2 hours 15 minutes late. It was a nice ending to a most enjoyable trip.
I had considered booking on the parlor car - I am not interested in the Tourist car with its low back chairs - but as I end up spending almost all of my time, either in the open car or on a car platform, I chose to go ordinary coach. I will definitely book on the parlor car next time.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2014 10:03PM by Jim McKee.
