Cumbres Toltec Scenic Railway - Southern Rockies

[Capt Steve]

We have been enjoying the southern Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico for a week, currently staying at the Pagosa Riverside campground just outside of Pagosa Springs. Always wanted to ride the Cumbres Toltec Scenic Railway and yesterday we got it done... WOW! You have got to do this!

Before leaving home we made reservations on line for the all day trip. Our site is 50 miles from Chama NM at the southern end of the railway which made for another spectacular motorcycle ride. We rolled out of the campground at 0645 to insure we would be in Chama to pick up our tickets by 8 and made it easily though the ride was a tad nippy - 65 mph in mid to upper 30's is brisk.

There are 8 or 9 different trips/routes per day you can take departing and/or returning to several possible locations. The total route between Chama and Antonito is 64 miles and lasts about 5.5 hours as you will average 12 mph. We elected to ride the luxury motor coach from Chama to Antonito as I wanted to check out highway 17 for a future motorcycle road and it was amazing. This also gave us a good preview of the train ride to come. The bus ride was an hour and we departed Antonito at 10.

A large buffet lunch {Meatloaf or Turkey with all the trimmings and a salad bar + dessert} was served at 1:00 in Osier and is included in the price of your ticket. It was pretty decent and after a 45 minute stop we headed back to Chama arriving right on time at 4:05. A much warmer hour of enjoying more of the Rockies finest bike roads saw us back to camp by 5:15.

There are three levels of pricing, we opted for the "Deluxe Tourist Car "which is in the middle price wise at $155 a head {$333 out the door with fees}. The Parlor Car is $195 a head and the entry level car goes fo $95. We were very comfortable and spent much of the day outside in the open "Gondola" car. Temps were in the mid 80's for most of the day.

To say the scenery is spectacular is faint praise, words, even pics and video cannot begin to do it justice. How they were able to engineer this incredible railroad is mind boggling. Cumbres Pass at over 10,000' is the highest Railway pass in America.

If you ever find yourself in this part of the west take the time, take this train... you will not regret it!

 

[BearBio]

My favorite has always been "The Skunk" from Ft. Bragg to Willetts. Still an active mail train and local transportation.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Since the Cumbres and Toltec, a remnant of the past is one of my favorites, It's Coal Fired History!
And since he didn't post any pictures, I will!

 

[Capt Steve]

Photobucket is slow...

The pic was always coming, just slowly with PB.

 

[BearBio]

Looks like fun==going on my "To Do" list!

 

[dave b]

Mrs B and I did it a couple of years ago. A great way to spend the day. The cheap seats are great, as you probably will spend most of your time in the open gondola anyway, as in the picture.

 

[Marshwheeling]

You owe it to yourself to watch "Cycles South", a mockumentary that I would characterize as as cross between "Easy Rider" and "On Any Sunday". Three amigos with time on their hands set out to ride BSA 441 singles from Colorado down into Mexico. Not too far into their journey, they survive a narrow scrape with the Cumbres and Toltec. That is just one of many entertaining adventures.

https://**********/196023405

Well, the link to Vimeo didn't work, but the film is available on Youtube in segments of about 15 minutes each.

 

[Sistema1927]

I agree that the middle tier is great on the C&TSRR. The seating in that car just behind the open car is comfortable, and we had very good service. In case of inclement weather those wooden benches up front can be gruesome.