Bicycling Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico - 2006

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Antonito, CO

July 6, 2006

This morning we woke up anticipating a great day even if the sky looked like rain. Today we are going to ride the 64 mile long Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. After breakfast we started the day with an hour bus ride from Antonito, CO to Chama, NM so we could ride the train from Chama to Antonito. The ride was nice but we got a late start so we did not have any time in Chama to look around. The one thing that I saw was an old coal chute that was used to load coal into the engine tenders.

We took our seat in the passenger car and promptly at 10:00 AM the train began to move out. The grade from Chama is so steep that if the train has more than 8 cars, they must have two engines to enable the train to climb the grade. Thursday is a day when they have a special Cinder Bear Express section on the train. This is a section for children and it only goes as far as Cumbres Pass, then they return to Chama. We had more then 8 cars with both sections so we started out with two engines.

At Cumbers Pass, the helper engine is removed as well as all the cars of the Cinder Bear Express. The helper engine than takes the Cinder Bear Express cars back to Chama while the main train continues on to Osier, CO where lunch is served to both the passengers on the train from Chama to Antonito and the passengers on the train from Antonito to Chama. The trains run through Colorado and New Mexico and they cross the boarder 11 times. The railroad track was laid prior to when Colorado and New Mexico gained statehood.

After lunch the train ride continued to Antonito. We went through two tunnels and through Toltec Gorge which is 600 feet deep but only 800 feet from canyon rim to rim. Most of the landscape was made up of soft volcanic debris that easily is eroded by wind and water. However, Toltec Gorge is made up of hard stones such as granite that is not easily eroded resulting in a deep narrow canyon.

We returned to Antonito around 5:00, tired and very dirty from the smoke from the coal burning steam engine. We ate supper at the local restaurant and then prepared to ride tomorrow.