(The following story by Erin Smith appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain website on May 6.)
ANTONITO, Colo. — The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad advertises itself as “one of America’s most authentic railroads.”
The little narrow gauge train chugs its way over 64 miles of scenery and crosses the Colorado-New Mexico state line 11 times between this Colorado town and Chama, N.M., and takes its passengers into the Frontier West’s bygone era of the 1880s.
It is a veritable living museum.
Beginning in Antonito, at an altitude of 7,888 feet, passengers board the train shortly before 10 a.m., when the conductor, attired in period dress circa 1880, calls out “All aboard.” The whistle blows, and the train pulls out of the station.
The rider is met with about 18 miles of slowly rising plain covered by sagebrush and inhabited by small game like rabbits and grouse. At Big Horn, located at 8,795 feet in the conifer-encrusted mountains, the terrain becomes home to big-game animals. Big Horn Peak, the site’s namesake, is clearly visible to the south.
About seven miles past Big Horn, the train stops for water at the picturesque railroad town of Sublette, elevation 9,276 feet. One is struck by the surrounding sight of conifers and aspens. During the spring and summer, wildflowers bloom along the track. In the fall, the aspen trees shimmer in a Joseph’s coat of yellow, rust and gold.
It’s just another 12 miles to Osier and the luncheon stop, but some of the most spectacular scenery can be found along this stretch. There is the Mud Tunnel, a 342-foot bore passing through “a ridge of soft volcanic breccias” that tend to flow when wet, according to “The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad — The Historic Preservation Study” written by Spencer Wilson and Vernon J. Glover.
Less than a mile beyond Mud Tunnel is Phantom Curve, where one’s imagination can run wild over the fantastic shapes, outcroppings and rock pedestals on Toltec Creek Canyon.
The train then continues to chug through a second tunnel, the 360-foot Rock Tunnel, located about four miles west of Mud Tunnel.
Coming out of the west portal, the train pauses in front of a stone monument to President James A. Garfield erected by the American Association of General Passenger and Ticket Agents.
At the Garfield Monument, located at 9,580 feet, riders can look down the deepest part of Toltec Gorge, more than 600 feet to Los Pinos River. The view was noted by Terence W. Ross, considered the line’s modern-day savior, in his 1971 book, “Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR: The Toltec Gorge Route.”
Then it’s another three miles to Osier, located high on the side of Los Pinos Valley. Osier, at 9,637 feet, began as a large construction camp, continued as a small trading center for ranchers and shepherds and was later abandoned when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad operations ended, the Wilson-Glover book says.
Osier provides passengers a time to relax and eat a hot lunch (part of the ticket price).
For those passengers going on to Chama, 28 miles to the southwest, there is plenty more to see. Others taking half-trips return to Antonito, viewing the scenery from a different angle.
Heading toward Chama, riders cross over Cascade Creek Trestle, an iron bridge serving as the highest span on the line.
According to Wilson and Glover, “(Cascade Creek Trestle) has the most complex history of the major bridges. In 1881, an impressive wooden trestle was built across Cascade Creek as a temporary bridge. By 1889, it was replaced by the present iron structure.”
The area between Osier and the Los Pinos River is fairly open. Then the track begins to climb to the highest point on the line, Cumbres Pass, 10,015 feet.
Shortly before Cumbres Pass, a loop of track, known as Tanglefoot Curve, takes the train up 39 feet in elevation.
At Cumbres Pass, the train crosses the mountain ridge and descends into the Wolf Creek Valley and on to Chama, at 7,863 feet.
Just west of the pass sits White Rock Point, a massive rock promontory photographed by many — including the famous William Henry Jackson.
The train travels by the Cresco Water Tank above Wolf Creek and over the Lobato Trestle, about 100 feet above the creek, where the stream converges with the Rio Chama. Lobato Trestle was constructed in 1883, and like the Cascade Creek Trestle, it carries 187,250-pound locomotives — despite being built in an era when 60,000-pound locomotives were de rigueur. Wilson and Glover note that the trestles remain in sound condition.
Then it’s through Lobato, location for the Universal Pictures 1970 film “Shootout,’ and over the Rio Chama Bridge about four miles away. Wilson and Glover say the Rio Chama Bridge is the only two-span-through-truss bridge on the C&TSRR line.
The train ends its run in Chama at a quaint railroad yard, complete with a water tank, coal tipple, oil house, cooling trestle, turntable, roundhouse, depot and other features, keeping railroad buffs busy for hours.