Walkers Are Now Running: Cumbres & Toltec

What you are looking at is the coal burning steam engine that was fired up and waiting for Becky, Hannah and I (and maybe a few others) as we arrived at the Antonito Railroad Terminal in Antonito, Colorado.

We picked a gorgeous day for our train ride.

Normally, the train carries passengers only; but on this day our train was also transporting railroad ties.

After the crew checked the brakes and ties the whistle blew and it was time to board.

This was the cutest girl on the train in my opinion. And this is the train car that we were assigned to. We didn't know it was the VIP car, but we discovered quickly that we were VIPs and we had our very own lavatory!

I couldn't help but snap this picture of Hannah as we were pulling away from the terminal. Elevation: 7,888 ft.

I called this open car the "cattle car" because you had to stand the entire

time you were out there - just like livestock do when their being transported.

But the open car is where we spent most of our time because the

scenery was magnificent and we didn't want to miss any of it!

We could always tell when we were going up hill; the smoke

from the engine would get darker and thicker.

Hannah loved the whole experience. She would sit inside the car for awhile,

then go back out to the "cattle car".

This little house stands in Sublette, it was built for the workmen who worked on the railroad laying the lines.

Elevation: 9,276 ft.

This is one of the beautiful vistas we encountered along the way.

This was called "mud tunnel" because of the muddy conditions of the mountain

the tunnel went through. They had to built what we would now call shoring

to re-enforce the walls from caving in.

Black smoke; we were climbing again. The higher we climbed the greener, and more beautiful it became.

Below:

Calico cut.

A very narrow cut between the mountains.

Avalanches and mudslides cause problems here when the dirt and rocks are wet.

This woman was a very happy tourist.

She took pictures and video the entire distance!

Check out this rock. Do you see the old man sitting there?

These are called Telltale's.

When brakemen are on top of a car and get hit on the head by these hanging wires, they know it's time to get down because there is an approaching tunnel.

More beautiful scenery.

This is Osier. Where we stopped for lunch.

Elevation: 9,637 ft.

Becky and I had a choice of turkey dinner with all the fixings

or soup and salad bar.

Becky had the turkey dinner - I had the soup and salad bar.

Hannah's was a child's meal which consisted of:

Hot dog, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, roll and dessert. We didn't go away hungry!

This is Cascade Trestle.

Built in 1889.

137 ft. high, 408 ft. long.

All of that to go over little Cascade Creek - seen below.

Our little reliable engine was really blowing some steam here.

These two pictures are out of order.

We stopped to drop the railroad ties when we reached Cumbres

(which means "crests" or "summits" in Spanish)

The photo below shows the cars being prepared to be disconnected.

The photo above shows the brake hose popping off and the cars

separating from one another.

The sign reads:

Cumbres

Elevation 10,015 ft.

If I remember correctly, we pulled into the Chama station around 4:00 p.m.

There was so much fanfare; bands playing, people cheering......so much noise that we could hardly hear ourselves talk.

See for yourselves!

After we made our way through these crowds we spotted the stagecoach

that we would be taking back down the mountain.

We had front row seats which we enjoyed the entire 45 minute drive back down to Antonito - we continued to enjoy beautiful scenery all the way back as well. By the way,