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Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad
Posted By: reh321, 07-18-2018, 12:07 PM

The tourist railroad known to old-timers as CATS is jointly owned by the states of New Mexico and Colorado, and is operated to bring income into two of their most impoverished counties. Following are photos I took one year as my family rode from Chama NM to Antonito CO

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07-19-2018, 01:21 PM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
I also have driven the route, across the Continental Divide farther north, then down to Lake City, CO. Unfortunately we were behind schedule and did not stop at Chama. The annual spring Rotary Snowplow excursion is supposed to be thrilling.
It's thrilling when things go their way The snowplows were meant to blow large amounts of newly-fallen snow off the right-of-way, so running them is a waste of time if the snow is old, mostly frozen stuff.

07-19-2018, 01:37 PM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by reh321 Quote
It's thrilling when things go their way The snowplows were meant to blow large amounts of newly-fallen snow off the right-of-way, so running them is a waste of time if the snow is old, mostly frozen stuff.
I read keeping them (it - the Rotary) running is a bit Sisyphean these days since they have to fabricate parts. I imagine their biggest fear is the occasional rock buried in the snow.

My first real hobby was modeling the D&RG - specifically the Sapinero - Lake City, CO branch. When we moved to this house the modules went to the local HOn3 club and the brass and rolling stock went into the down payment. The stick-built depot is in a box somewhere. It was modeled from a period photograph in my wife’s archive from her great-grandfather.
07-19-2018, 01:52 PM   #18
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
I read keeping them (it - the Rotary) running is a bit Sisyphean these days since they have to fabricate parts. I imagine their biggest fear is the occasional rock buried in the snow.

My first real hobby was modeling the D&RG - specifically the Sapinero - Lake City, CO branch. When we moved to this house the modules went to the local HOn3 club and the brass and rolling stock went into the down payment. The stick-built depot is in a box somewhere. It was modeled from a period photograph in my wife’s archive from her great-grandfather.
Chama was originally just a base for helpers up the big hill there {they have two locomotives in the first three shots and only one in the last three}, so they had to build extra facilities when CATS became a separate thing. One of the facilities they built is a machine shop, so they can fabricate some of the parts they need. At one time, tours of the shops were occasionally available.
07-20-2018, 04:52 AM - 1 Like   #19
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My fondest for CATS is based in my personal history. It was created in 1971, the summer I spent in New Mexico as a summer intern. I read about this new venture in the local newspaper, and visited Chama over the July 4th weekend; I was told by a bystander that their tickets were already soldout, but I took a couple of pictures anyway. Below are those pictures, one in both the original {mediocre} color and converted to B&W.

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07-20-2018, 06:51 AM - 1 Like   #20
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My son is a railfan, and an HO modeler. For his graduation from high school this spring, as his gift, he wanted to go out to Colorado & New Mexico to camp, hike, and sight-see. He planned the entire trip, including a few days in Durango, CO. Well, an unfortunate fire changed our plans, so at the last minute we rerouted from Lake City to Chama, instead of Durango. The Cumbres & Toltec was a real treat, for the history, the scenery, and the railfanning. I did not get as nice a batch of pictures as some of these, but I have many. I'll grab a few later and add to this post.

Definitely go and ride this scenic railway if you can. It was a day well spent.
07-20-2018, 09:50 AM - 1 Like   #21
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QuoteOriginally posted by dubyam Quote
My son is a railfan, and an HO modeler. For his graduation from high school this spring, as his gift, he wanted to go out to Colorado & New Mexico to camp, hike, and sight-see. He planned the entire trip, including a few days in Durango, CO. Well, an unfortunate fire changed our plans, so at the last minute we rerouted from Lake City to Chama, instead of Durango. The Cumbres & Toltec was a real treat, for the history, the scenery, and the railfanning. I did not get as nice a batch of pictures as some of these, but I have many. I'll grab a few later and add to this post.
Bring them on!

The Durango railroad was originally the Rio Grande's tourist railroad and got their historic passenger cars. CATS is less 'neat' in a physical sense, but 'neater' in a historic and railfan sense. Apparently locals laughed when these plans were first announced, because the new railroad owned no passenger cars, so the first President, holder of a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a former faculty member at Stanford (?), designed the first passenger cars {seen in last three pictures} by converting old box cars; the last time I was there, a few of them were still on the property. The current cars were built later using old flat cars as a base
07-20-2018, 12:12 PM   #22
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This my photo of the updated version of the converted box cars which carried customers their first few years. I was never onboard, but I hear that people sat on cheap plastic chairs. As you can see from my photos above, they hadn't completing painting them a week into operations.

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07-20-2018, 12:39 PM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by dubyam Quote
My son is a railfan, and an HO modeler. For his graduation from high school this spring, as his gift, he wanted to go out to Colorado & New Mexico to camp, hike, and sight-see. He planned the entire trip, including a few days in Durango, CO. Well, an unfortunate fire changed our plans, so at the last minute we rerouted from Lake City to Chama, instead of Durango. The Cumbres & Toltec was a real treat, for the history, the scenery, and the railfanning. I did not get as nice a batch of pictures as some of these, but I have many. I'll grab a few later and add to this post.

Definitely go and ride this scenic railway if you can. It was a day well spent.
Lake City, CO and environs is one of my three favorite places on earth. My wife’s great-grandfather, John S. Hough, helped establish Lake City.

.:

Last edited by monochrome; 07-20-2018 at 12:46 PM.
07-20-2018, 03:20 PM   #24
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Very interesting series. Me too should have been there. :-)
07-20-2018, 05:24 PM   #25
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Love the old trains and take the ride even if it ends up a lot less scenic than the ride you are showing us here. Maybe I have to get on the Amtrak and find a way down to ride this line too!
07-20-2018, 08:39 PM   #26
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Looks like a fun time! Thanks for posting!
07-20-2018, 09:34 PM   #27
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Thank you for this wonderful series, I rode steam trains to high school for a few years, the smell of steam and coal is still in my brain. (as well as the soot in hair)
07-21-2018, 04:42 AM   #28
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QuoteOriginally posted by SSGGeezer Quote
Love the old trains and take the ride even if it ends up a lot less scenic than the ride you are showing us here. Maybe I have to get on the Amtrak and find a way down to ride this line too!
Part of CATS's problem is lack of public access. You could take Amtrak to Denver or to Albuquerque, but I'm not sure what you do next.
07-21-2018, 04:45 AM   #29
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
Lake City, CO and environs is one of my three favorite places on earth. My wife’s great-grandfather, John S. Hough, helped establish Lake City.
QuoteOriginally posted by Janse Quote
Very interesting series. Me too should have been there. :-)
QuoteOriginally posted by 17dew Quote
Looks like a fun time! Thanks for posting!
Thank you for your comments
07-21-2018, 04:50 AM   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by Heinrich Lohmann Quote
Thank you for this wonderful series,
Thank you for your comments ... they mean a lot coming from you.

QuoteOriginally posted by Heinrich Lohmann Quote
I rode steam trains to high school for a few years, the smell of steam and coal is still in my brain. (as well as the soot in hair)
Yes one thing people don't think of when they ride a train like this is the impact of flying soot. The plume of it is visible in several of the photos. Incidentally, they also don't take the higher altitude into account ... some sort of jacket is also often advisable.
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