Depends on what you want

You never really said if you were going to ride or chase. D&S ride is great one way, but take the bus back downhill. Overall if riding I would take to bus to Antonito(C&TS)and ride to Chama. The scenery gets better, and although you miss the incredible 4% out of Chama(it lasts only about 75 minutes)there is a steady climb(around 1% for about 50 miles to Cumbres, so the engine is working somewhat most of the way. And, the scenery ends on a good note toward Chama, where you can watch them in the yard a bit before dinner. Then I might suggest staying overnight, and chase the train(10:30 dep)the next morning to Cumbres. You can still make Albuquerque comfortably by dinner time and you have some chasing while seeing the THRASH up the 4%. Chasing D&S is limited, and on either railroad you miss a ton unless you ride. As I said on the Trainorders, do yourself a big favor and add another day(even if you have to pay the boss)and do it right after all the effort to get that far!
Steamingly,
Greg Scholl