This is somewhat of a fishing expedition so please excuse me.
I always though that the original 1881 (2) station burned down in 1899 and the present station was built the same year to replace it, however when I was doing some research for the Friends Yard Brochure I was directed to a history of Chama (the name of the book escapes me at the moment) which did not mention the 1899 fire but rather the fire of 1886 which started when ??? Smith knocked over his Kerosene lamp and set his home (read Shack) in slab town on fire. The fire spread and eventually burned the station down.
This story is different than the one in the Ticket to Toltec book which describes the 1899 fire as starting in the business district of the town and spreading to the railroad when the wind shifted to blow from the west, destroying the station and the roundhouse and ???? coal trestle ??? (the latter was not mentioned but since the "New" trestle was built in 1900 or there about I wonder).
At any rate Dorman in his Chama book also mentions that the station was replace in 1888 after the fire (no description) so I concluded that there have been two stations burned down in Chama and todays is actually the third permenant station structure.
Dorman's book has a drawing of the first station which appears to be like the Cumbres station in architecture only larger. Does anyone know what the second Chama station looked like?, or for that matter what the first coal trestle looked like?
Enough for now, hope this stimulates some brain waves, other than mine.
Frank