Toot! Toot! All aboard the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad!

Hearing the train whistle blow, seeing the black smoke billow and the white steam hiss is a regular adrenalin rush for me!  Not unlike car, boat or horse races for others, I'm guessing.  I'm not sure why, but I have always loved trains, everything about them!  So, of course, whenever we can, we take the opportunity to travel on one.  The "older" the better!

I read about the Cumbres & Toltec Steam Train out of Chama New Mexico, several years ago, and had it on "my to do list", but it only operates from Memorial Day through October, so timing is tough.  We've just always missed their window...until now.

We came into Chama a couple of days early and stayed at the Rio Chama RV Park, which is just down the road from the station.  We were booked to take the train for the "second day" of their summer opening for the 2015 summer season.  They had all kinds of special activities planned for the first day, so we planned on being there for that.  In the mean time, we thought we would go over to the train station while no one was there to "check things out".

While we were there, we met "John", one of the "Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad" - a group of volunteers who love and work to repair and restore the deteriorated cars and buildings.  We chatted with John for awhile and learned a little, but it wasn't until the following day that we really hit the jackpot!  After watching the ceremonies for a bit, I saw John and another gentleman sitting on a platform towards the end of the station and teased them that they had the "best seats".  They invited me up to join them.  "Bob" introduced himself and we soon became great friends.  Bob shared all kinds of stories with me (and soon Jack joined us) - showing me some of the props from the movie Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford, including pointing out the Water Tank he swung from.  Showing us signatures of workers going back to 1924.  He lives 7 months in Phoenix and 5 months here working on the trains.  "You guys could travel 7-9 months and then spend the rest of the time here doing the same!"  He got us thinking...might be kind of a fun summer project...next year!  hm mm...

 Bob, Jack & John sharing stories...

 Movie memorabilia from "Indiana Jones" with Harrison Ford - shot at this location, along with signatures from workers back to 1924 on the door

 Old double spout Water Tank, Harrison Ford used in the movie "Indiana Jones"

 #489 & 484 Engines getting steamed up, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway

At last the caboose leaves the station, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

The Cumbres & Toltec is the nation's biggest, longest, highest most exciting narrow gauge railroad operating today...and so worth the wait!  It goes from Chama New Mexico to Antonito Colorado (64 miles), chugging you up a steep four percent grade, then over the 10,015 foot Cumbres Pass, the highest altitude reached by rail in the US!  Along the way you cross the line dividing New Mexico and Colorado 11 times, ride over the 137 foot high Cascade Trestle, pass through tunnels, hug rock walls and cling to a narrow rim of cliffs that drop straight down to the 800 foot Toltec Gorge.  One hairpin curve bends back so tight it reminds you of a dog that chases its tail - and darned near connects!

Depending on the season, there are all kinds of wildlife to see...we only saw deer, and one neighboring passenger saw an elk.  However, we did experience "every season"!  Sun, rain and snow!  It didn't stop me from going outside to the open gondola car to take my photos, though, it just "shortened" my visits a bit!  It could get mighty cold out there once the train got going on it's straightaways!

About half way, the train stops in Osler, which is nothing more than a "train stop" where they feed everyone a fabulous full hot turkey or meat loaf dinner (all you can eat) with all the trimmings.  Then back on the train you go!  Once you get to Antonito, you have a few minutes to stretch your legs (buy a few souvenirs) and then board a very nice bus and be driven back (only an hour back!) to Chama.  By day's end, its about 8 hours.  You sleep well that night. 

We've been on a number of train trips (and if you follow my blogs, you've read about them), but I have to say...this one was one of the very best...

Toltec Rock Tunnel elev 9,631'

Coxo Phone Booth

Mud Tunnel (342')

Cascade Trestle

...on the road in Colorado,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Special Treasures...

I, for one, am glad that there are people in this world that care enough to preserve “special treasures”.  Maybe it’s just “nostalgia”, or maybe it’s “history”, or I guess you could put any number of different tags on it, but the bottom line is that there are just some things worth saving, I think (and obviously, so do others).

We were fortunate to spend some time with a couple of them...

Just outside of Rapid City is a wonderful historical church called Chapel in the Hills.  It is an exact replica of a stave church in Norway called the Borgund Stavkirke built about 1150.  It was originally built as the home for the “Lutheran Vespers” radio program and completed in 1969.  The radio program moved to their national offices in Minneapolis in 1975 and ultimately became a non-profit corporation using monies from donations, wedding fees and sales from the gift shop.

The chapel is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and probably you too!  The early church builders in Norway were the same ones who built the Viking ships, so many of the details were the same.  For instance, carvings around the door frames are of snakes and dragons representing the battle between good and evil.  The Vikings being pagans, considered dragons to be good luck which is why dragons adorned the prow of their ships.  You will also see dragon heads adorn the Chapel.  (The fact that crosses outnumber the dragon heads demonstrated their confidence in their new conversion to Christianity.)

The timber for their staves went through a special hardening process of two years where they were left standing, but had all their bark and branches removed.  The Chapel has 16,000 hand-cut (with a saw!) shingles on it.  Standing inside the church, the ceiling is constructed like a Viking ship turned upside down.  Pretty cool looking.

The side door is known as the women’s door (front door being the men’s door, of course!).  The door portal around this door is also a pagan sculpture.  The top of it has carved lions and the bottom has heads of bear or wolves.  The door locks on the doors are also interesting (and cool iron work).  The large ring on the front door served a dual purpose.  First it was a door knocker, but it was also known as a Sanctuary Ring.  At the time the Borgund church was built, outlaws could be killed by anyone but if the outlaws could get to the church and grip the ring, no one could touch them.  Folklore says many outlaws starved to death holding onto the ring!

In addition to this beautiful little Chapel they had a small gift shop that has a sod rooftop, Norwegian museum and short prayer walk along a hillside with a few statues.  It was a lovely place to visit and quite enlightening as well.  I’m glad we found it.

The other special treasure is a vintage steam engine train.  Now if you know Jack and I at all, you know we love trains, so whenever we get the chance to ride an “old one”, we take it!  This scenic one is called the 1880 Train and it runs from Hill City to Keystone.  It’s about a 2 hour, 20 mile round trip that winds through the Black Hills National Forest. 

We rode the #110 which is a 2-6-6-2T (low speed locomotives commonly used on logging railroads)  which is an articulated Mallet that was built by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1928 for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company of Vail, WA and was retired in 1968.  It is the only 2-6-6-2T Mallet in service in the world. During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam.  After years of declining use a public relations man with railroad experience, William Heckman, decided to start a railroad where steam was actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. 

The first official train began operation in August, 1957.  The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.

As for us, our train traversed around one bend then another and we saw such sights as the Good Luck Tungsten Mine, Harney Peak (elev 7242) with it’s rock fire lookout tower outline on the very top, Indian Cliffs, old abandoned houses and pretty new houses, even a deer dashing through the tall grass. The ride was smooth and the  whistle blew often.  Big puffs of steam shown in the blue sky and I could see the beauty of that big engine ‘round each bend from my seat way back in one of the beautifully restored cars. 

What a lovely trip it was...scenic, relaxing and yes, reminiscent of another time.

...kicking back in Rapid City South Dakota,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/