In the beginning, a little history.

When you find the time to do your spring cleaning do you ever stumble upon things that bring fond memories?

I discovered the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad 31 years ago and it was more by accident that I did. I worked with two persons that loved everything Denver and Rio Grande Western one had a stronger passion for the Standard Gauge Diesel operations and the other loved the Narrow Gauge Steam operations. Because I grew up only three house away from the Tintic Branch, I was more familiar with the Diesel operations going past my home during the later 60's and 70's, diesels locomotives where my main focus of entertainment, I loved photographing the GP30's. These two men where quite influential on my growing passion for railroading. I was planning a 9 day trip to Denver to visit CRRM stop by Caboose Hobbies and see if I could find someone to give me a tour of the Burnham yards. Plus visit some family in the area.
Ardon my friend who loved the steam operations of the Rio Grande told me to stop by and visit all the static displays of the old narrow gauge, then recommended that I at least stop one day in Chama, New Mexico to see the operations of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, he said, "One day would be enough". I said, "One day would be enough for what?" He said, "You'll see when you get there". So he gave me a map to go by, drawn on the back side of an old machine part print. I matched up the route on a couple folded maps of Colorado and New Mexico and set off for my adventures to what was the great unknown to me.
Stopping in Grande Junction, Colorado first I watched switching being done in hump yard. I was really fascinated by this as there was nothing like this in Utah. Trying to make good on my time I ventured south to Montrose, then east to Cimarron to see 278 sitting on her bridge, then up to Gunnison to see 268 in the museum, boy was i taking most everything in like a sponge. 268, a water tower, a Depot, 278 on a bridge this was so cool. Then again I headed west back towards Montrose, stopping one more time to see 278 on that section of bridge thinking now that is Art, Science and History all tied up into one display.
Boy was I getting excited but you only have so many hours in one day to enjoy what the sun is willing to show you, my final destination that day was suppose to be Silverton, CO., but i stopped in Montrose and purchased a burger also I poked around the depot there for a while trying to find remnants of the old narrow gauge and really not finding much.
Traveling into the dark up the million dollar highway isn't what I would recommend but it was what I had to do to get to Silverton my final destination for the day. I had stopped in Ridgway to see the old RGS depot, then stopped in the park and saw the old Rio Grande Caboose in Ouray and it was getting dark by the time my headlights were shining on the pavement, passing the old Idarado Mine dumps then over Red Mountain Pass, I remember thinking that tunnels could have made for a better straighter trip, it wasn't until two years later that I took that road northbound in the daylight that i finally got to see what i had missed that night and it was awe inspiring. I didn't make it all the way to Silverton, i found a sign that had camping on it and drove down the road to find a place to park to get off the beaten path. I was driving a 1985 suburban, I had a bed roll with foam pads and my food for the week in boxes and a cooler full of drinks. The suburban was ex-military and had long legs, the gear ratio was different than what normal Suburbans from GM had and I averaged 20 miles to the gallon on fairly flat land and roughly 15 in the mountains and in the cities. That was pretty rare for a three quarter ton truck, with a 350 motor in it and having a 30 gallon gas tank, but i loved that truck, she took me to many sites and she did get me to the edge of my destination that evening, well it was more like 1 in the morning the next day.
I slept for 3 hours woke up wired and ready to see what Silverton had to view in the early morning before the dawn of light, this was before the D&S moved 493 to Silverton and there was not much to see in Silverton, I was quite confused noting that much of Silverton had dirt roads still and that the rail died in the middle of the town, where there weren't any industries near by. Still confused I decided to pull out of Silverton and head to Durango to find 315 in the park. By the time i got Durango the suns rays were starting to touch the mountain peaks to west, Durango was still in the shadows of the mountains from the east.
I stopped at a station and topped my tank off. While filling my truck up I could smell something, someone was burning something but the smell didn't turn my nose like most smoke gases do. I looked to the east and I could see narrow gauge cars parked on a siding near a McDonald's Arches sign, really, Ardon told me not focus on Durango much as the 315 would give me a different feeling for the place, compared to 268 and 278 in their respected areas. Before i got in the truck to pull out a blast from a horn really caught my senses and then I realized that I was in steam country. I found an easy parking spot not far from the Depot and watched a K-28 locomotive switching passenger cars around. The depot wasn't open yet but some fellows had walked through a gate and were taking pictures of the locomotive moving back and forth, I followed with my camera in hand. My first taste of coal fired steam filled smoke from a live, not static, iron horse. I was in heaven so i thought. I was thus confused at what Ardon was trying to tell me, i could have stayed all day in Durango and would have been content with the beauties that sat before me. Magical was it all to me as I remember feeling so small next to these great beasts that were pounding the rails.
Now i understood what my older brother had told me about how steam locomotives used to be the main sources of power on the Tintic Line, i had never seen steam in operation so i didn't understand what he was trying discribe, but now it was starting to fill my whole being. I felt like I was born just a little too late into the century, here was my opportunity to step back in time to watch the magic of motion with my own eyes, so much to take in.
Realizing that I was on a tight schedule, for I had reservations in Alamosa at the end of the day I headed south out of Durango. Then east to Pagosa Springs, then south from there, a paradise of a drive through lush farmlands, I was surprised to find that the road crossed the continental divide at its lowest spot, further on as I drew closer to Chama, signs helped me locate the railroad, really it a grand sight for this hick horse farmer to see.
Mountains usually mezmorize people, my feelings were confused, was i really standing near a steam operated railroad in the year of 1992 or was my mind playing tricks on me and i was really standing in 1932, it was very hard for me to decipher the difference. In total awe I was trying to process what I was seeing, what I was feeling and if it was real. A coaling tower, a water tower, a roundhouse, a depot and locomotives in every direction, some static but most operational, simmering, smoking, steaming. I really now thought I had passed through a veil and arrived in heaven.
I went through all my vacation film in three hours watching the movements in the yard, looking for more film another photographer pointed me to a cafe by the main road upon the hill, I found my way to the shop and purchased more film, the couple who own the shop talked to me for a while then asked me where I was staying the night I said Alamosa They said you better be on your way to get there in time, I said, I don't want to go. So they let me make a call from their phone and I cancelled my reservation in Alamosa. Then they asked me where I was going to stay for the evening, I told them I was camping in my truck for most of the trip so far, they said that there was a camp just north of the yards that was fairly nice priced. I asked about camping in the mountains near Chama, they said for the best view to drive to the top of Cumbres Pass, then early in the morning come down and get breakfast from the group they were affiliated with there.
(To be continued )

Still a Student,

Dave