Photo coverage between Dulce and Chama

I have no idea how regularly coal was taken at Monero but I do not remember seeing many pix. They may be out there, but I don't remember them. If you were a photog and chased a train from Durango, you could get as far as Juanita and then the road ended and you had to make a long detour north (just how far north depended on how well you knew the back roads, which is an interesting story in itself). If you chased a train to Juanita it is unlikely you could beat it to Monero to begin with, and even it you did it might well be after dark. At least in my experience by the time you got to Juanita it was late and you would head up to Pagosa and down to Chama to get ready for the next days Cumbres turns.

I wonder how many pix there are of trains between Chama and Dulce. Eastbound you had the challenge mentioned above, and westbound you typically had a choice between chasing west to Dulce or chasing trains climbing Cumbres, and Cumbres usually won that choice. I only chased west as far as Monero or Dulce twice, once in the winter when the road to Cumbres was blocked by snow, and the "Mad Dash" train of 1968 that had no Cumbres turns to compete with. Toward the end when there were fewer trains and fewer choices, I think that part of the line got a bit more coverage.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2018 12:22PM by John West.