Ah, New Mexico in late September. Cool, crisp air, golden Aspens on the hillsides....what a great time for a first visit to the Narrow Gauge. Wait a minute....what the heck is THIS?? Yes folks, the image you see here is my very first glimpse of a K-36 Locomotive on the famous Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. I had flown into sunny Albuquerque earlier in the day and after a leisurely 3.5 hr drive north, my only hope for the first day of my visit was to get there before the afternoon train from Antonito arrived in Chama. By the time I arrived, the sky was rather cloudy and when I drove by the yard, I found NO TRAIN. Awesome, I thought, let's head north and catch 'er comin' down the hill. After driving north about 5 miles and still not seeing any train, I decided to park near the Highway 17 crossing and just wait. And wait I did....for nearly 3 hours! Just as it was starting to get dark, the skies suddenly opened up and I found myself in the middle of an early fall blizzard. Wouldn't you know it, just about then, the train showed up. I got out of my car and attempted to shoot, as I got pummeled with the largest, wettest snowflakes I had ever seen. In the few seconds it took me to shoot this image, I got totally soaked. I followed the train back to Chama, and grabbed a few more images, which at the time, looked pretty awful. Only later did I learn that this train had been stranded by a locomotive failure, way out near Sublette. But that's another story for another caption!
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are all that remains of the legendary Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge system. Here you'll find some of my favorites from these two beautiful railways.
