The Scenic Cumbres and Toltec Railroad

My husband and I love the adventure of a steam engine railroad ride and we were excited to take a 6-hour ride on the very scenic Cumbres and Toltec Railroad recently, taking the ride from Antonito, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico. 

The train's website describes it perfectly:

"The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a National Historic Landmark.  At 64-miles in length, it is the longest, the highest and most authentic steam railroad in North America, traveling through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Rocky Mountain West.

Owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico, the train crosses state borders 11 times, zigzagging along canyon walls, burrowing through two tunnels, and steaming over 137-foot Cascade Trestle. All trains steam along through deep forests of aspens and evergreens, across high plains filled with wildflowers, and through a rocky gorge of remarkable geologic formations."

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad was originally constructed in 1880 as part of the Rio Grande’s narrow gauge San Juan Extension, which served the silver mining district of the San Juan mountains in southwestern Colorado. The inability to interchange cars with other railroads led the Rio Grande to begin converting its tracks to standard gauge in 1890.  Through the years the line became less and less used and finally abandoned. Happily, railway preservationists had the foresight to save the most scenic portion of the line. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico jointly purchased the track and line-side structures from Antonito to Chama.

When taking the train from the Antonito, Colorado station we first passed over the vast high-elevation San Luis Valley, which has an average elevation of 7,664 feet (2,336 m) above sea level.  My husband and I went out to the stand-up open car as soon as our tickets were punched as we wanted to see all the scenery. A herd of Pronghorns ran across the tracks in the distance at this point, but they were so fast I couldn't catch a good photo of them.

A short Youtube video I took of the train traveling in the San Luis Valley at the beginning of our ride.

The train quickly covers the flat ground and reaches a series of hills. It crosses Ferguson’s Trestle, named for a man who was hung there. 

It then climbs to a lava mesa, a remnant of the mountain's volcanic past. From here, the route winds around wide curves, going up into the mountains.  

We took the train ride the last week in September, so I was concerned that the fall color would not be very bright as yet, but the higher we went in elevation the more golden the aspens became.

The train track was very close to the edge of the mountain summit cliffs and my husband and I marveled over the construction and all the effort it must have taken to lay all the track.

The train passed by Sublette.  Sublette was the home of station gangs, the workers who maintained the right-of-way ties, ballast, and rails. During early railroad operations, the telegraph and trains were the only communication for folks living there.

We passed through the 342-foot Mud Tunnel which requires wooden supports to hold up the tunnel roof and walls.

We were now in an attractive geologic area of volcanic lava rock.

The views were beautiful!

The autumn color was really popping here.

So many aspen trees!

We really enjoyed the views!

We passed alongside many beautiful aspen groves and views of deep valleys and then entered the 360-foot-long Rock Tunnel which opened up to 600 feet above Toltec Gorge,  To see a video of our exciting ride through the tunnel and our first view of the gorge click here to see my YouTube short.  You can also see the square granite Garfield Monument towards the end of this video.  It was erected by railroad ticket agents and dedicated to the memory of  President James A. Garfield after his assassination in 1881.

If you look in the distance you can see the railroad track along the cliffside, where we had just traveled.  

The train stopped at Osier, Colorado where we were given a delicious cafeteria-style barbecue lunch included in our train ticket.

After lunch, we had a good view of the Rio de Los Pinos River when we were back on board the train.

The train passed over the Cascade Trestle that spanned 137 feet over Cascade Creek.

The train continued on over many curves which helped it gain elevation.

My husband's hand pointed to an eagle flying high overhead!

The train had to work hard to climb up to Cumbres Pass, the highest point on the railroad at 10,015 feet (3,052,5m) above sea level.  The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad travels the highest of any train in North America!  Fierce winter storms sometimes leave snow drifts of 20 feet or more.

More spectacular views!

As the train approached Chama, New Mexico, we were told of its role in some movies, as we passed a prop wooden tower that was used in an Indiana Jones movie in 1989.  When we reached the station we could see another engine and train that will make the trip from Chama to Antonito the next day.  We could also see the coach bus that was waiting to bring us back to Antonito.  The bus ride was also included in our train ticket and only took one hour as it took a very direct, but equally scenic, route.

We really enjoyed our day on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad and could see why it has been voted the best and most scenic train ride in America by readers of USA Today (2016, 2019, 2020)

If you'd like to see other train rides we've taken in Colorado you can see all ten prior posts at this tab. We have taken the Georgetown Loop many times, The Royal Gorge Railroad twice, the Leadville Colorado and Southern Railroad, and even the Tiny Town miniature railroad and we still have a few more train rides we are looking forward to taking in the future.  I hope you enjoyed taking a virtual trip on this historic and scenic Cumbres and Toltec Railroad with me.

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