Rabbitbrush Rambler: Red eye at Lobato
Posted: Monday, Jul 5th, 2010
BY: Virginia Simmons
At last, we have some word about the Lobato Trestle, thanks to a long press release that was posted on the Internet on July 1. The story told as much as possible about what has happened since the fire on the night of June 23-24, four miles from Chama, NM, and what the future may hold.
The press release was written by Tim Tennant, vice president of the C&TS Management Corporation and president of the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, an organization that has poured tremendous amounts of volunteer energy, time, and money into the C&TS for 20 of the excursion line’s 40 years.
After the wooden ties on much of the span burned, C&TS management could only hope that trains might be running again from Chama in three weeks if the necessary repairs are merely new ties on the roadbed. Although rumors circulated that arson might have been involved, more likely were sparks on ties that had been treated with a flammable preservative.
With the Fourth of July holiday approaching, it was a time for more anxiety than merriment at Chama. Although bus shuttles would be connecting Chama with trips out of Antonito, most other options from the west end were impossible without the Lobato Trestle, only four miles from the Chama terminus.
The Antonito to Osier run itself is an excellent trip, climbing through open country and past the woodsy Sublette station, through two tunnels, and above scenic Toltec Gorge, to a hearty, all-you-can-eat lunch at Osier. Then back to Antonito with wonderful views across the San Luis Valley along the way.
Like the Little Engine That Could, the people at Chama and C&TS immediately set to work on other options for the customers at the western terminus. Some special, short trips were scheduled between Chama and Lobato, but this left the scenic gap that climbs from Lobato, around Windy Point, over Cumbres Pass, down switchbacks to Los Pinos Creek, and finally to Osier.
A most creative idea was in the works by July 1. One locomotive and some passenger cars were loaded onto trucks and headed for Cumbres Pass, so that passengers will be able to take a motorcoach to the top of the pass and ride the train from there to Osier and Antonito.
Beyond such innovations, long-term planning was still up in the air when the Fourth of July arrived, and the outcome will matter to all of us whether we are rail fans, business owners, or employees. The C&TS is an important source of revenue, whichever end of the line we live and work on and whatever our local loyalties.
Take my own personal experience as a fan that has cost me plenty of cash since the early 1970s, in exchange for pure delight. I have lost count of all the times I have ridden the C&TS from one end or the other in boxcars, cabooses, and coaches, by daylight or moonlight, and more specifically how many times have I have ridden across the Lobato Trestle.
I particularly recall one expensive, all-day photography special with a triple header, requiring locomotives to be uncoupled and run across separately at Lobato, to the delight of the shutterbugs. This strategy was used regularly with double headers, too, after the earliest, smallest locomotives were replaced by the slightly larger ones still used on C&T trips today.
Even a steel trestle can take only so much weight and vibration. We should be glad it was not a timber trestle, or the entire historic structure might have burned in June’s fire and fallen into the creek bed, along with the ties.
Perhaps to speed construction of the line, the big 100x400-foot Castle Creek Trestle, east of Osier, was first built with timber, which soon was replaced by iron and later by steel. The 80x310-foot Lobato Trestle was built originally with iron, which was converted to steel.
The point on the railroad called Lobato recalls the name of a Spanish-speaking family of the area. This portion of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway was built through the Spanish Tierra Amarilla Grant.
Not very important were a phony depot and water tank at Lobato called Weed City. In 1970 Weed City was a Hollywood movie set for “Shoot Out” starring Gregory Peck, a film that was pretty forgettable except for our gorgeous scenery, but Weed City survived until 2006, when it was demolished.
More important is the actual history of the railroad. The main goal of the D&RG’s San Juan Extension in 1880-1881 was to access freight traffic to and from the mining country in southwestern Colorado.
Mines and smelters, with additional revenue from ranching and passengers, kept the steam up between Alamosa and Durango through the earlier part of the 1900s. Each autumn, vast numbers of sheep and cattle were hauled out of the high country on the railroad.
Another source of revenue for the D&RG was logging. The town of Chama was a center of lumbering and trading, with its lumberyards and sawmills serving the region around Pagosa Springs and the South San Juan, where lumber camps and short rail spurs operated.
Hauling pipe west to the oil fields around Farmington, NM, and a few oil cars, including those belonging to “Gramps” of Alamosa, provided the final scenario for the little line. It finally was destined for abandonment in the 1960s.
For years, expenses had exceeded income, exacerbated by distance, altitude, weather, and the necessity of transferring from obsolete narrow-gauge to standard-gauge equipment at Alamosa, the last narrow-gauge link being the rails from Salida, which had become an albatross even earlier.
Prior to demolishment, however, the states of Colorado and New Mexico jointly purchased the portion of the San Juan Extension between Antonito and Chama for a tourist attraction in a region that sorely needed an economic lifeline. Thus was born the Cumbres &Toltec Scenic Railroad, which will celebrate its fortieth birthday this August.
A long-term question remained about the infrastructural integrity of the metal trestle that had provided support for the ties. On June 26, a team of structural engineers from Kansas City made an inspection and returned home, saying they would send a report in about a week, but when it arrived, the report still left some questions.
It mentioned that “structural shortcomings” might require complete replacement of the trestle but did not make clear whether the shortcomings were the result of the fire or of 100 years of wear and tear.
The press release from Tim Tennant quoted Elmer Salazar, president and CEO of the C&TS Management Crop., saying, “We would prefer the quicker solution of replacing the roadbed on the existing steel trestle framework, as that approach would take a vastly shorter time to complete repairs. However the long-term safety and adequacy of the trestle is the primary concern -- and if those considerations dictate a necessity to replace the whole thing, we will do it.”
Mr. Tennant then went on to comment that the total insurance on the trestle is only $360,000 with $50,000 deductible. Anticipating that a very large expense is down the line for C&TS, the Friends already have set up an account to raise funds for restoration, no doubt meaning reconstruction, I believe.
Contributions can be sent to the Lobato Trestle Fund in care of Friends of the C&TS Railroad, 6005 Osuna Rd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109.
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