- Life & Leisure > *Life & Leisure F1 > TCD Traveler: Training Day
- November 20th, 2011
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- By Manya Kaczkowski
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TCD Traveler: Training Day
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The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. All Photos courtesy the author, Manya Kaczkowski.
As we roll over Hangman’s Trestle, from which in the late-1800s, a criminal named Ferguson was hanged by a sheriff’s posse, I feel like I’m in a movie. I am, after all, traveling behind a steam locomotive through the rugged mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. I half-expect a band of train robbers to ride up on their horses, wearing kerchiefs on their faces and brandishing guns.
Several movies were filmed on or about this very railroad. In fact, some 100 years after the real-life hanging, Willie Nelson starred in a film called Where The Hell’s That Gold? requiring pyrotechnics on that same trestle. Unfortunately, it was a windy day, and Hangman’s Trestle caught fire. Nelson paid for the replacement in 1988. Today, in a luxurious classic coach on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, I settle in for my own adventure, as I gaze out the window at sagebrush, purple bee-balm and native grasses waving in the wind. Johnny Cash songs play in my mind as I hear the lonely sound of the train whistle closer than ever before.
There’s something exciting about trains. I’m not a certified “foamer,” but I figure I have it in my blood, since my great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and brother all worked for the railroad in some capacity during their lives. Foamer, by the way, is a name that railroad workers give to those who salivate over trains, although some say that it was originally coined along the Feather River in California, when photographers would step into the foamy water to get a good picture of the trains rolling by. (The more derogatory term is FRN, which I will NOT spell out entirely, but I will say the last two words are Rail Nut.)
The author and certified "foamer" takes in the scenery from the caboose of the train.
The train I’m on now is on the longest and highest narrow gauge railroad in the U.S., and it’s a historic beauty. Powered by steam and sweat — think men shoveling coal atop the locomotive — it runs on 3-foot rails, vs. today’s standard 4-foot, 8 inches. Narrow gauge rail was originally used because it allowed the train to make tighter turns through the San Juan Mountains (part of the Rockies). One of the remaining working remnants of the old Denver & Rio Grand Railway, the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad is a National and State Registered Historic Site, as well as a National Civil Engineering Landmark.
As we wind our way through Whiplash Curve, looping back and forth through the steep hills, I see why it’s an engineering feat. These curves are sharp. The track hugs the rocky hills on one side, with long drop-offs on the other. I try to imagine how they laid the rails in this unforgiving terrain between Antonito, Colo., and Chama, N.M., in the late-1800s. This was the Wild West, after all, and roads — if there were any — were simply trails. Robert Hey, docent coordinator for the railroad, said the work was painstaking.
“It was hand labor, picks and shovels and mules,” he said. “They completed the 64-mile stretch between the two towns in, amazingly, just nine months.”
“They finished in Chama on New Year’s Eve, 1880,” he said.
This is former Ute Indian country and it still looks pretty wild out here. Word has it you can still find arrowheads from battles that once raged in these parts. We’ll cross the Colorado-New Mexico border 11 times during this trip, following the Rio de Los Pinos much of the way, crossing the breathtaking Toltec Gorge, and traversing 10,015-foot high Cumbres Pass.
My window is open on this crisp fall day, and I’m falling into rhythm as the train rocks along the track. I’m watching the sky, the deep blue above red rocky bluffs, and the elderly couple in the seat in front of me, heads romantically close together as they take a brief late morning siesta.
A romantic journey.
It’s breezy, and as I put my hand up to brush the hair out of my face, I feel something…smallish, like grains of rice. For a terrible split second, I think I’ve been infected by bugs, but then I laugh a little, realizing I have cinders in my hair from the smokestack. I’m in the car right behind the engine, and a few ashes must have blown in through the open window.
I walk, then, a few cars back to the open-air gondola, to shake out my hair and take in the valley views.
The gondola is filled with picture-takers and sightseers, but there’s plenty of room to comfortably watch the scenery. As the elevation increases, I begin to see groups of slender quaking aspens turning a tawny gold in the sunlight. We’re coming up on Phantom Curve, and dozens of tall rock columns stand, sentinel-like, on either side of the curvy track. They’re part of the Conejos Formation — volcanic rock, carved into otherworldly shapes by wind, water and the passage of time.
In this strange and lovely landscape, I can almost feel the ghosts of dozens of people who lost their lives in accidents along this track. One of the most famous wrecks happened right here on this curve (luckily, without casualties), when a San Juan train was forced off the track by an avalanche. Published accounts describe the passenger coaches sliding slowly down the side of the canyon — so slowly, in fact, that some folks stayed right in their seats! It must have been a cold and treacherous climb up the hill in the snow to take refuge in the two baggage cars that remained on the tracks until help arrived.
We’re now headed for Rock Tunnel, a 366-foot trip through, well, rock. Right at the end of this tunnel is one of the best views on the entire trip: the Toltec Gorge. But you have to be quick, it’s gone in an instant. I also notice a monument of sorts with a plaque on it. The train is going too quickly to read it, but I learn that it’s dedicated to President James A. Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881. Workers on the railroad held a memorial service at this spot to coincide with Garfield’s funeral in Ohio, and later erected the monument.
Osier's watertower.
The train stops in Osier for lunch — everything homemade and hearty — and then four blasts on the whistle let us know we have five minutes to board. What I like best about Osier is the old-fashioned water tower, which pushes Johnny Cash out of my head, replacing him with this for the rest of the afternoon:
Come ride the little train
That is rollin’ down the tracks
To the junction…
(Petticoat Junction, by Paul Henning and Curt Massey)
From here, we pass over Cascade Trestle and begin the climb through Cumbres Pass up to Windy Point. The valley views are sweeping, and flowers are numerous: lupine, sunflower and asters. In early times, Cumbres Pass was used by Indians, trappers and traders. One account of a pioneer family’s journey through this dangerous passage tells of them using trees boughs to line the way, so that their wagons wouldn’t go too fast and capsize.
After Windy Point, the train begins descending down a 4 percent grade, with frequent steam emissions from the side of the locomotive, as brakes are applied. I watch a gigantic blast of hot steam spew out over the valley, and marvel at this example of early technology, advanced for its day.
The train pulls into Chama shortly after 4 p.m., where motor coaches are waiting to take travelers back to Antonito. I tour the train yard; a living, breathing museum with a depot dating to 1899, a water tank from 1897, and the only wooden coal tipple in the world. 2,200 volunteers belong to The Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, which preserves, restores and interprets the railcars and structures. A non-profit management company, meanwhile, operates the trains and maintains the facilities. Fares start at $91 for adults, $50 for kids.
Before leaving, I take a few photos and a last, lingering look at the train. It’s cooling down, smoke still wisping out of the stack. It looks alive, and I have a sudden urge to ride it one more time. Maybe I am a bit of a foamer after all.
Thanks, Mark and Beautiful Railways! I’m in Rome, Italy now for a year, and I’m hoping to check out the trains over here in Europe. So far I’ve just been on the Roman subway…a VERY different experience than the C&TS!
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Nice account of an incredible historical landmark. I have ridden a few times over the years when I’m in the southwest and it has always been a great experience. The entire operation would not survive without the highly dedicated group of volunteers (“Friends of the C&TS”)that helps out and the operation needs higher ridership – unfortunately, it is in a fairly remote area and doesn’t get the traffic it would elsewhere. But there’s a benefit in that you get to walk around a much more authentic environment in Chama than many of the other tourist lines in Colorado or elsewhere. This was the disruptive technology of the 19th century (hard to imagine, I know), but ride it, experience it, and learn from it as we’re going through an equally profound technology revolution in our own time. And above all, just enjoy it. Thanks!
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Thanks, Larry! I do hope to ride the train again some day.
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Manya,
Very nicely written and an excellent job of covering the highlights of the C&TS as well as conveying the effects the magic of the scenery and the whole experience has on you. One certainly does not have to be a “foamer” to appreciate historic places and a real operating steam locomotive. They will grab almost anyone’s attention. Nice job, please go ride the train again and bring your friends. And it’s okay, it’s in my blood too, a lot of foamers won’t admit it.
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