Fall Colors and Steam Trains

 We received an invitation to drive to Chama, NM and meet some friends and chase narrow gauge steam trains thru the fall colors. Pretty hard to beat a trip like that so we loaded the pop top Ford camping van and headed to Chama.

Travelled to Antonito, CO first to check the rail yard and then to Chama and made our way back home via Farmington, NM and over the old Rio Grande Southern Route thru SW Colorado. A nice way to finish out the fall season as the cool nights let us know winter is coming. 

We stopped at the railyard in Antonito, CO to see the steam engines being serviced. #20 and #315 were parked side by side

I understand #20 is being prepped to return to the railroad museum in Golden, CO

We caught the afternoon train heading down hill at Dalton. There is a Forest Service road at Dalton that goes thru private property to get back to a secluded campground.

Always want to wait for the fire patrol following the train to pass before heading out

Private property on both sides of the road, but a beautiful drive.

Nice night for a campfire before turning in

Heading out the next morning to chase trains

One of the gift shops in Chama puts out quite a Halloween display

We went to the normally secluded Juke's tree site to photograph the train in the classic bridge image

This time however the Pagosa Springs Photography Club had their members photograph the train from the same location

Julie at the Juke's tree site enjoying the day

Fire patrol coming thru

Just below the Cumbres summit is a highway pull out where you can see the entire valley and track the smoke trail of the train climbing the 4% grade

The crew check the train at the summit before heading down grade. Snow shed in the background is a portion of what was there in the past. Snow gets 10 feet deep here and caused all kinds of operational issues when trains ran year round

Rudi thinks steam trains are something he needs to alert us to and barks at the train as it passes much to the delight of the passengers

Flagging the road crossing for the fire patrol speeder and trailer

Forest road 103 is the route delivery trucks take to the lunch stop the railroad has at Osier. It can be travelled by high clearance 2WD vehicles when dry, but best avoided by all when wet.

It goes thru open range so you have cattle as your occasional companion

The road allows you to overlook the water stop known as Sublette. Great location to hear the echo of the steam whistle thru the mountains

Our friends Mark and Deby were the guides and showed all the locations to stop

We made it to Osier and saw the tents that were set up for dining while the smoke damaged dining hall is being refurbished from a kitchen fire

This is a great place to watch the switching moves as they position the trains to continue their journey after feeding the passengers

Julie made herself comfortable to watch the show

We eventually made our way to Dolores, Colorado to check out Galloping Goose #5 and the museum in the recreated depot

Ben was the docent and was good enough to open up the Goose so we could look inside

The museum recently acquired the original safe that was in service in the RGS Depot in Dolores. The floor had to be re-enforced to hold the weight as the safe was advertised to be dynamite proof

Some of the original paperwork for the railroad were on display

They have a great historical photograph of the depot at Ophir loop 

Goose #5 is regularly transported to tourist railroads for passengers to ride

A very nice diorama shows how the town was arranged in the railroad days

Very nice model of #20

We stopped at the Matterhorn Mill with the idea of hiking the entire high line railroad grade past the mill. This was not to be as the grade hits private property a short distance away.

It was a nice walk as long as it lasted

The weather was getting to be pretty sporty and the road was pushing the capabilities of 2WD so we moved on

It is most interesting to see winter arriving on the peaks while it is still fall in the valley at Trout Lake