Page 14 - NMRA Roundhouse January-February 2020

double-headed out of the Chama valley, so we had two K-36 Mikados, helper #487 and road engine #488, when we departed at about 10am. Although seating is allocated, passengers are free to move around – within the appropriate ticket class, (it was all one class back in 1979) - so provided the weather is OK the open gondola soon fills up.
Initially the climb is modest, until the Lobato Trestle is reached. Here, be- cause the structure cannot take the combined weight of both engines, the helper locomotive is cut off and makes its way across. Then the other loco- motive brings the cars across and the whole train starts the serious business of reaching the top of the pass.
After struggling around Windy Point, the train pulls into Cumbres Station. The depot is another that may be recognised in model form. There is a wye here and this is where the helper is usually cut off. Essentially it is all down grade after this.
My train continued with the single locomotive, around wonderful Tanglefoot Curve and then around the famous Los Pinos Loop and followed the line of the Rio de los Pinos until we reached the wooden water tank and dining shed at Osier, where we stopped for an hour
for lunch, provided by the railroad. After lunch I stood in the open gondola down Toltec Gorge, past some striking rock formations, until it started to rain again.
Crossing the Lobato Trestle, August 1979. Note the original old cars with brake wheels on roofs
Cumbres & Toltec #484 drifts into Antonito,CO in the early evening 31 September 2008
Soon after passing the abandoned station buildings at Sublette the rugged scenery undergoes a dramatic transfor- mation as the line enters the relatively flat semi-desert of the lower San Luis basin for the final 10 miles into Antonito.
Antonito is now a National Historical Site, and much more developed than when I first visited 40 years ago. The depot houses the main ticket office and headquarters of the railroad plus re- strooms and a gift shop. The site is now visitor friendly in a way it wasn’t back then. There is even a motel next door.
As the man said, “Enjoy your ride!”
Tom Watson
Working up-grade, July 2009
ROUNDHOUSE - January/February 2020
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