New Mexico Road Trip - The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad

Friday, October 18, 2024

Today we are riding the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  It runs between Chama and Antonito, CO and one train leaves from each town every day.  You can ride from either town and go halfway or the whole way.  Here is a description from the Cumbres and Toltec wesbsite: “The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a National Historic Landmark. At 64-miles in length, it is the longest, the highest and most authentic steam railroad in North America, traveling through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Rocky Mountain West.”.

Val and I have been to Chama several times and way back in 1988, we took our first ride on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad.  On that trip we only went to the halfway point of Osier and then got on the train coming from Antonito and rode back to Chama.  This time we are starting from Antonito and taking the full journey back to Chama.  This entailed a bus ride from Chama to Antonito where we catch the train.  The bus ride had a bit of a bonus for us as the first half of the drive was one of the scenic drives from the book, our first of the trip.

The bus left at 8:30 so we were up at 7:00 as we had to get there by 8:00 to pick up our tickets.  One thing we discovered when we picked up our tickets; tomorrow is the last day the train will run for the season so we got here just in time.  We made it to the station in Chama to pick up our tickets and catch the bus in plenty of time and we were on the bus and on our way promptly at 8:30.

We had been worried about the weather, but although it was still cloudy, there were patches of blue and the clouds didn’t look quite as ominous as they did last night.  The drive from Chama to Antonito takes about an hour and is very scenic passing over the 10,000-foot Cumbres Pass.

We arrived in Antonito and found the train waiting and ready for us to board.  We had opted to upgrade to the parlor car, and were very glad we did.  The regular coach cars have normal rows of seats facing forward, but the parlor car has individual, very comfortable seats that face the windows.  There is also an attendant that provides commentary and serves alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.  Food is also available for purchase, but lunch is served at the halfway point so there wasn’t much interest in buying food.  Besides that, when we sat down there was a snack of fruit and a pastry as well as some souvenir items and a route guide on the table in front of our seats.  The other advantage is that the parlor car is the last car on the train with a platform on the back for great viewing and taking photos as you travel along.  There is also an open gondola car on the train that is available to everyone, but it can get very crowded so having the rear platform just for our car was a real treat.

Engine 489 would be taking us to Chama from Antonito.

One of the coach cars.

The 64-mile Cumbres and Toltec route from between Chama and Antonito.

The train was soon on its way, and we started our climb up into and over the mountains on our journey to Chama.  The scenery was quite spectacular, and the sun was actually shining at times with no rain.  We rolled along through the open foothills, but as we climbed further up into the mountains the open countryside became more forested with pines and aspen.  At the lower elevations, the aspens were still showing quite a bit of fall color, but as we climbed higher the aspen had lost most of their leaves.  The attendant told us we were two or three weeks too late for the peek fall color, but there was enough to still be beautiful.  I can’t really describe everything we saw but will instead just do it with pictures

 

The first of several water stops.

The brakeman during the water stop.

The parlor car.

Another water stop.

That little car on the right is called a "speeder" that follows along behind the train to watch for fires started by embers blowing from the engine's smoke stack.

You can see the open gondola car packed with people, it made us glad to have opted for the parlor car.

 

At the halfway point there is a station called Osier where lunch was served.  We arrived just after the train coming the other way from Chama, and lunch was served for everyone.  Both trains were full so there were a lot of mouths to feed, but the food was served cafeteria style with multiple lines, so it actually went quite quickly and there was a large variety of food and was surprisingly, quite good.

Pulling into Osier for lunch, you can see the train coming from Chama ahead of us.

After finishing our lunch, Val and I had time to walk around, but it was soon time to leave, and we were on our way again.  I have to say that Val and I really loved the parlor car, it was a bit more expensive, but well worth it.  The last time we did this trip we sat in coach, and while it was fine, today is much more comfortable and enjoyable.  Having the rear platform is a real plus and Val and I spent quite a bit of time out there enjoying the scenery and taking pictures.  Also, because it was at the rear of the train, it was sheltered from the wind, and we were able to stay warm.

Engine 489 ready to haul us on to Chama.

The weather held pretty nicely although we did have a bit of rain just before Osier, but it quickly passed.  We also had a small bit of snow or maybe sleet just after lunch, but it was very light.  The second half of our trip between Osier and Chama was also beautiful with amazing scenery.  We passed over the Cumbres Pass and it did get a bit chilly at 10,000 feet, but surprisingly not too bad.

Our forth and last water stop before the final run into Chama.

We rolled into Chama just after four and were in our car and heading back to our motel just a few minutes later.  Val had forgotten her hair dryer so we had to stop at a dollar store and buy one and we also decided that after our big lunch we weren’t very hungry, so we decided to stop at the market and pick up some cheese and crackers and a cut vegetable package for our dinner.

We had a great day today, but we are quite tired tonight as we were up pretty early today (at least early for us).  I wrote up the blog and downloaded the pictures we took today, but otherwise we just relaxed.  Tomorrow will be an easier day as we are off on another scenic drive, and it is a pretty short one.  One note here, all of the drives we have taken since we left Interstate 40 have been scenic, but when I refer to scenic drives in this blog, I am referring to one of the 35 drives listed in the book.

Scenic Drives Completed: 1 of 35