Antonito

Antonito was chosen as the Colorado terminal for both political and practical reasons.
From a political perspective, it provided a rare opportunity to place a source of revenue into Colorado's poorest County, and this was a cause supported by many in the Colorado Congress.
From a practical point of view, it was correctly noted that adding an additional hour and a half to the already all day trip on the Colorado end, alongside a well established highway, was not going to be of any interest to 98% of tourists. Make that 99.999%.
Besides that, it was felt by the New Mexico authorities that terminating in Alamosa would give Colorado an unfair advantage as it had better access to highway traffic and they were interested in developing Chama, which was also in desperate need of econimic development.
Everyone knew that Chama, in addition to being at the foot of Cumbres Pass, already had an adequate yard and much better facilities left by the Railroad, would be the primary terminal of the C&TS.
The negotiations were never certain as bickering and nitpicking passed back and forth between the States, and within the Colorado Congress. Many of us felt that there was a good chance we would never see any of the line preserved until we could witness it with our own eyes.
How much work this must have taken behind the scenes is unimaginable.