I recently went down to Antonito to ride the Cumbres and Toltec Railway, a preserved portion of the old Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge. The line has been in operation about fifty years, now. It was an enjoyable ride. Over the years it has been greatly improved. I have done many stories about the trains of over a hundred years ago, so today how about a ‘modern’ train ride?
Some of you may have ridden this line in the early days. They started with no passenger equipment. The passenger cars all went to the Durango and Silverton, which was also sold off by the D&RGW. To accommodate passengers old box cars were converted to open cars. After many years they started building their own passenger cars. The first ones were not very popular. A new design was established. Today the train is built on this plan. The cars are very comfortable. There is also a very nice parlor car. If you prefer the older style, there are still some open cars, but they no longer use the converted box cars.
There are four ways you can do the trip. You can ride from either end to the lunch at Osier and back. You can ride to the other end and return to the starting point in a bus. The lunch stop, at Osier, gives you a chance to get out and see the train and some grand scenery. The food comes in by truck on a narrow road, not generally used by the public. Only on each end are you even near a highway.
It is amazing how different the two ends of the line are. Up north it is almost desert like. On the south end it is definitely mountains. It is popular with western movies as a location. Over a dozen films were done here including Bite The Bullet and some were done even when it was run by the D&RGW, like The Good Guys and the Bad Guys. If you like tunnels, they only have two and they are on the north section. A fun part is to count how many times you go from Colorado into New Mexico.
The ride can be treated to typical summer weather, but my favorite part is in the Fall when the colors can be spectacular. If you go get your reservations well in advance, as the popular dates fill up early. I like riding in the parlor car, looking out at the passing scenery, listening to the guides tell the stories of the line’s history.
