Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, Antonito, Colorado

     There is nothing like the sound of a steam engine blowing its whistle.  It sends chills up my spine and makes me think of travels to wonderful and exotic places.  The Cumbres and Toltec is the longest and highest narrow gauge railroad in the U.S.  It is a well preserved section of the narrow gauge part of   the Denver & Rio Grand Railway.  This part of the railway was made narrow gauge because it needed to make some pretty tight turns in the mountains.  It follows the Toltec Gorge and goes over the Cumbres Pass at over 10,000 feet. The line passes through Rio Grande and Carson National Forests and has some really beautiful scenery along with the historic charm.
    This was a quiet day for train riders and we had a car all to ourselves which was pretty nice.  We could move from one seat to another to get the best view and stand up and take pictures out of the windows without getting into anyone's way.  The cars had huge windows that opened wide although the ashes and smoke from the steam engine created quite a hazard at times so we didn't open all the windows.

Our trusty engine for the day

   There was a completely open "gondola" car that Rick went back to for even better pictures.  He came back with big chunks of ash in his hair so I passed on that thrill.  We got a map of the route so that we could anticipate exciting curves, tunnels, trestles and towns.  At times we were on very narrow  ledges where we could see straight down for hundreds of feet.  At other times we were so hemmed in by rocky walls that we had to be careful when we looked out the window so the rocks wouldn't snag our camera.
   It was a 64 mile trip, and the train went about 10 miles an hour so we were on it all day.  We stopped at a toll station on the old toll road from Conejos to Chama in Osier and had lunch.  It was a delicious, cafeteria style turkey meal with all the fixens.  Yum.  Then back on the train for the higher, steeper half of the trip to Chama.  We got near the highway in a few spots and saw dozens of folks gathered to take pictures.  The engineer obliged by sounding the whistle.
  Late in the afternoon we arrived in Chama and hopped on a cumfy, air conditioned bus to take us back to Antonito.  It was a nice change as the train ride was pretty bumpy and was hot by late afternoon.  All in all it was a great experience. Our car was just behind the engine so Rick got plenty of time to watch the engine release steam and get filled with more water.  A volunteer talked about how the train worked and told us some of the history of the rail line.
   This was our second choice of train rides to take (Durango Silverton was the first) but we had a terrific time and are so happy that we had the chance to take this ride.  We will compare it with the Durango ride in a couple days.