"Pardon my ignorance as a railfan but why do narrow gauge tracks exist?" I...

"Meandering" Like a fox....

Meander:  To wander a winding indirect course without aim...

"Animals blazed the original, meandering, indistinct trails across Cumbres Pass as they migrated back and forth between the San Luis and Chama Valleys.  Naturally the (indigenous people) followed the migrating animals when they went forth on hunting expeditions.  By the time of the American trappers and traders entered the region, the general route was fairly well known."
     Osterwald, "Ticket to Toltec", Western Guidways, Ltd 1976

"This was a strange route.  East of Cumbres Pass the track held to a stead 1.4 percent grade with a 20 degree curvature, apparently wandering aimlessly in spaghetti like contortions over the barren country...."
    LeMassena, "Rio Grande to the Pacific", Sundance Publications, Ltd. 1974 

It is a reach to understand why the question titling this post appeared on a discussion forum related to Narrow Gauge railroads, but there it was.  It has taken over two months to organize my thoughts for this series of posts.  The second was published first but only after I took to time to go back nearly 50  years to a 36 page paper I wrote for a Freshman English Class at Metropolitan State College in Denver.  The paper talked about a man named Moffat who built a railroad out of Denver.  That process brought again the understanding of how some people see organization in something while others see chaos.  The story of the building of that railroad over the Front Range of the Rockies is a direct analogue to climbing the steps on the San Juan Extension built twenty years earlier.  In an odd way the two remain some of the most powerful symbols of mountain railroading at its finest while so much else is gone.

There were certainly shorter or easier ways to get to the Silverton Basin than the jump over the Tusas Divide at Cumbres.  The two quotes above indicate, to this time there are those that imply the whole thing was rather like a clever job of following wildlife trails to get over a inconvenient obstacle.  Nothing could be further from the truth.    

The title for this post comes from a Facebook Inquiry on the "Narrow Gauge Discussion Group's" Page.  It is joy to see someone ask a fundamental question and my comment to him on Facebook inspired this post.  Over the course of the series there will a lot of aerial pictures which will enlarge if you click on them so keep your fingers ready to click a mouse or jab at a screen.  This post will use parts of the DNW&P (Standard Gauge - Denver Northwest and Pacific Railroad reorganized as the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad - Both named "The Moffat Route" in honor of the builder David H. Moffat - and on acquisition the D&RGW), in addition to The Denver and Rio Grande San Juan Extension National Historic Landmark (Narrow gauge - Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad).

DNW&P - Leyden Mesa & the "Big 10's" to
Rollins (Corona) Pass

First and foremost this is a story about how to build a railroad on the cheap that was so well engineered and constructed that it now approaches its 140th birthday.  It is also a story about what worked and what didn't and why and finally it is about the challenge of building railroads in some of the most difficult geography on the face of the planet but, first things first:

In 2012, through the efforts of the "Friends", the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded the then operating Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad the designation of National Historic Landmark.  This award to the now Denver and Rio Grande San Juan Extension National Historic Landmark was described in the award this way:

"In terms of length, scale of operations, completeness, extensiveness of its steam operations, and state of preservation, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad San Juan Extension, Conejos and Archuleta Counties, CO and Rio Arriba County, NM is one of the country's best surviving examples of a narrow gauge system at the peak if American railroading, roughly 1870 to 1930."

And further,

"The 64-mile narrow gauge railroad is an operating steam railroad that has been in continuous service for nearly 130 years making it a key destination for historic rail riders.  Even within the context of comparable properties, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is an exceptional railroad cultural resource with an unparalleled combination of original fabric, original form and footprint, number of contributing features, intensity of operations, range of historic equipment and structures, continuity, and authenticity of operating practices and workplace culture." 

Unbeknownst to many among the accolades the Railroad has also been cited for excellence in Railroad Civil Engineering by the American Society of Civil Engineers ("ASCE").  In awarding the citation the ASCE included the entire 64 mile length of the railroad stating:

"The route from Antonito to Chama was one of the most difficult construction efforts of the entire D&RG era. Although there was urgency in pushing the line, labor and supplies seriously hampered these plans. Recognizing that work progress was well below D&RG productivity standards, the construction manager, R.F. Weitbrec, reported in the railroad’s 1880 Annual Report: “The most serious difficulty we have had to encounter has been and is still the securing of sufficient quantity of good labor. Since November, 1879, there has been an average of at least 1,000 laborers per month shipped from Denver and Pueblo to the various grading camps.” Most of these recruits deserted to the mines, returned home, or continued on to other parts due to the challenges of the rail construction project. Out of this problem of recruiting labor grew an important decision: the Rio Grande began recruiting local help, which meant “the brown, lean and ever-enduring Nuevo Mejicano. Indeed, as the Rio Grande headed toward Santa Fe and the San Juan, it was advancing into the heart of the New Mexico country and culture.” From that time forward, the “Nuevo Mejicano” would assume a dominant role in the building of, and later the maintenance of, the roadway and tracks of the narrow gauge. Even with the “Nuevo Mejicano”, however, labor shortages remained the chief obstacle to progress on the D&RG. To further rectify this situation, and in the process, introduce another source of change, an agent in Utah was appointed to recruit Mormon workers. In the fall of 1880, about 2,000 were contracted and became another prime source of labor for this difficult construction effort. Indeed, to this day, Mormon communities dot the San Luis Valley. 

The story of the people – the laborers and their families - who created and maintained this engineering marvel through some of the most challenging mountain terrain on the continent is yet to be fully told. The “Nuevo Mejicano” would embody the history of a region that had witnessed a territory that was, and had been, home to numerous Native Americans; the influences of Spanish conquest and settlement; the territory and Mexico winning its independence from Spain; the Mexican-American War and increasing white settlements; and a currency of trade and bartering in a self-sustained agrarian society that would give way to dependence on commercial goods and a money economy with the mining activity and the coming of the railroad."

The fundamentals are a series of geometric figures essential to the construction of a properly engineered railroad.  As the series goes forward remember these terms because I may be using a different parlance than you are used to. 

   Tangent, Transition, Curve  

Example of 4% Grade (4' rise in 100' - not to scale)

Calculating a 20◦ Curve - not to scale

By the way, in retrospect the question was probably a joke, based on the name of the person making the post, but the proper answer is actually more complex than "low cost", "lightweight equipment and roadbed", "fast construction" and ability to negotiate tight spaces....


This post ends with an aerial view of the "first step", which I have already discussed, and the next post is about the "second step"......

Thanks for reading

j

Why Narrow Gauge? II

Whiplash Curves

Away back in the 1970's someone made a film that started with episode 4.  After many years they filled in the blanks and are now up to an episode somewhere north of 7.  The following is listed as II but there are at least 2 posts in the works that come before this and the same number last year that gave a side handed approach to the subject which you can find if you dig through the index.  I don't know how many follow, it just depends on how carried away I become in the writing.  Be patient I will get to ones prior to this one before G and I return to Chama next August.

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The journey from Antonito to the summit at Cumbres and beyond to Chama is a study in Geography, the "lay of the land" so to speak.  This Geography, or terrain, establishes the route while Geology, the composition of the land, establishes the building techniques which range from simple grading on level ground to complex trestles, cuts, fills, and in the extreme tunneling.

Most railroad fans, it seems, like the telling of the story eastbound from Chama.  I really enjoy the telling this story from a westbound perspective starting in Antonito.  This is the direction in which the railroad was built and to me it makes it is appropriate in the telling of the story.  So, let's take a trip on a 64 mile railroad built in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico in 1880 over 270 days and talk a bit about railroad civil engineering and construction.

The challenge from both directions is the climb to Cumbres which is in excess of 2,100' from both ends.  Westbound out of Antonito the grade never exceeds 1.42%, or just under an average of 75' per mile, (ruling grade) and the climb takes 51 miles.  The ruling grade of 1.42% is not consistent.  There are places such as the run from Tunnel 3 to Osier, MP 314.3 to 318.03, which is essentially level as is the run from Antonito to Fergueston Trestle MP 280.0 to MP 285.6.  If the grade was consistent the total climb would be over 3,800' so how do we account for the missing 1,700'?  Let's get on the train and go to the open car to hear the locomotive, get covered in ash, see the spectacular scenery and hear the story of building the railroad told yet again.

Leaving Antonito for Chama the train has a run of just over 5 miles on a slight grade to a point just beyond Fergueson Trestle (Upper red mark on picture).  A "ridge" running to the southwest is prominent to the west as we leave the Depot.  At Ferguseon trestle the track turns southward to parallel the ridge and commences a climb up Gravity Hill.

Plateau west of Antonito

The First Step - Gravity Hill

The ridge is actually a narrow plateau with a cap of volcanic breccia - Whiplash Curves are marked with the red circle.  The toe of this plateau is 400' above the plane on which the railroad runs at Ferguseon Trestle.  It is eight miles long and runs to the southwest.  Appearing dead level it actually inclines upward 500' from the toe near Ferguseon Trestle to the southwest at which point it is 900' above the cold desert at Ferguseon Trestle.

The climb up Gravity hill is a consistent 1.42% until reaching Lava Tank (Picture 1 - Lower Red Mark).  This run is the first of three long steps each of which runs from relatively level land to an abrupt climb.  The first step, up Gravity Hill brings us to a broad mesa which falls off to the Rio De Los Pinos 400' below on the south.  At the lower end of the Lava Tank Loop the rails have climbed to 8,479' over 500'  above Antonito the majority of which, over 350', was the 5 mile journey from Fergueson Trestle to Lava Tank.

The Second Step - Whiplash Curves

The second step commences as the train enters a life zone change and we see pine trees and Aspen.  as the train winds through uneven terrain; we cross numerous small fills which were first constructed as trestles to save money and expedite the construction.

We are in just inside Colorado here and slowly we approach an escarpment on which the railroad grade traces a pattern across the face, this is the "Whiplash Curves" (Picture 2).  At this point, the site of the long gone Big Horn Section House, the train begins a one and one-half mile climb from the base of the southern escarpment to the top of the plateau we originally viewed in Antonito.

Though the grade varies little from the previous 6 miles, we now traverse two complete reverse curves which tightly compresses the 110' climb into a limited amount of space.  Space is so limited the near 500' sweep of the 20 degree reverse curve on the top just brushes the edge of the northern escarpment. With this we surmount the plateau first seen to the west of Antonito; this second step took 7.5 miles from the lower loop of Lava Tank and a 400' climb.  The northern sweep of the curve is 8,872' over 1,000' above and 17 miles beyond Antonito with 34 miles and a 1,100' climb remaining to Cumbres and the "dreadful drop."

As we gaze at the Whiplash Curves from above our train journeys on, entering a land of complex geology and wondrous views.  We will soon see why this has been called "...The best example of narrow gauge steam operation in America...", in the National Historic Landmark award, and why the entire rail bed was awarded Landmark status by the American Society of Civil Engineers.  We will also see why, in 1885, Toltec Canyon was described as, "The King of Canyons".

The third step is very different but, that is another story...

The Third Step

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As I tell this ongoing story I admit that I am not a railroad civil engineer.  My grandfather and father were ran a structural steel fabricating and erection business in the Midwest and taking after my forefather's my son is a civil/environmental engineer.  I am retired from another profession but love history, railroads and things historic.  I have restored a home under DOI historic preservation guidelines and thus understand "the drill" when it comes to historic preservation.  This multi-part story is told based on my love of family, railroading and things historic.  It is told in language non-professionals hopefully understand, so if you an engineer or other professional of sorts, please excuse any goof-ups in my telling of this wonderful story.

The Velvet Vault....

This time I have included a lot of the raw research and a few of many pictures sorted through to put one of these posts together. 

On our journeys between Antonito and Chama enter the region above Sublette, MP 306.06 and on to Osier MP 318.08 or the other way around if travelling from Chama to Antonito, we enter an area of intense geological activity.  The term "spectacular" was applied to this 12 mile section as early as 1885 with the writing of "Crest of The Continent" by Ernest Ingersoll.  He said thus:

"A narrow pathway carved out far up the mountain's side" - Lower Toltec Gorge

"Describing a number of large curves around constantly deepening depressions, we reached the breast of a mountain whence we obtained our first glimpse into Los Pinos Valley; and it came like a sudden revelation of beauty and grandeur.  The approach had been gentle and picturesque in character.  Now we found our train clinging to a narrow pathway carved out far up the mountain's side, while great masses of volcanic conglomerate towered overhead, and the face of the opposing heights broke off in bristling crags.  The river sank deeper and deeper into the narrowing vale, and the space between us to the banks was excitingly precipitous..."

As the years went on the description of the passage became less lyrical and more, shall we say, antiseptic.  A public accustomed to easy access to previously inaccessible areas was given a dry description of a once special place in a publication issued through the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources which reduced Ingersoll's early description to this:

Mile Post 312.30 - "Phantom Curve, Reenter Colorado.  The cuts ahead afford a close view of chaotic breccias in the Conejos Formation and the many pedestal rocks left by erosion of alternating soft and hard breccias, flows and conglomerates."
James: "Scenic Trips to the Geological Past" May, 1972

A few years later a slightly more jaded readership was re-introduced to a by then overworked work, "spectacular", in order to impart a sense that this place was in some way special:

"Mile Post 313
This is one of the most spectacular sections of track along the C&TS route and has been photographed from nearly every conceivable angle.  The chaotic breccias and conglomerates that form the weird shapes, pedestal rocks and jumbled outcrops are the result of alteration by hot waters and weathering of the hard and soft breccias.  The wide variety of colors are due to chemical changes in the rocks.  A deep cut near milepost 312 is a good place to see these Conejos breccias.
Osterwald: "Ticket to Toltec"1976 

With very little effort the whole experience can be reduced to a human size thus:  Our Roman ancestors are celebrated for a remarkable feat of human hubris which is called their "greatest" contribution to construction. Using particularly difficult formula, for them, consisting of sand, volcanic ash and small stones they managed to stumble upon, and take credit for, one of natures multitude of original construction materials:


Conglomerates:
"Conglomerate (pronunciation: /kəŋˈɡlɒmərᵻt/) is a coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts, e.g., granules, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, larger than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter. Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. Conglomerates typically contain finer grained sediment, e.g., either sand, silt, clay, or combination of them, called matrix by geologists, filling their interstices and are often cemented by calcium carbonate, iron oxide, silica, , or hardened clay."
Wikipedia

Concrete:
"Concrete is a composite material composed of coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement which hardens over time."
Wikipedia

Rome:
"The Romans used concrete extensively from 300 BC to 476 AD, a span of more than seven hundred years. During the Roman Empire.  Roman concrete... was made from quicklime, possolana, and an aggregate of pumice. Its widespread use in many Roman structures, a key event in the history of architecture termed the Roman Architectural Revolution, freed Roman construction from the restrictions of stone and brick material and allowed for revolutionary new designs in terms of both structural complexity and dimension.

Concrete, as the Romans knew it, was a new and revolutionary material. Laid in the shape of arches, vaults and domes it quickly hardened into a rigid mass, free from many of the internal thrusts and strains that troubled the builders of similar structures in stone or brick.^"

"Pozzolana, also known as pozzolanic ash...), is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material which reacts with calcium hydroxide in the presence of water at room temperature (cf. possolanic reaction). In this reaction insoluble calcium silicate hydrate and calcium aluminate hydrate compounds are formed possessing cementitious properties. The designation pozzolana is derived from one of the primary deposits of volcanis ash used by the Romans in Italy, at Possouli.  Nowadays the definition of pozzolana encompasses any volcanic material (pumice or volcanic ash), predominantly composed of fine volcanic glass, that is used as a possolan."
Wikipedia


Thus the remarkable geologic events covering millions of years have been reduced to this:  Sand, Lime and Small rock (aggregate).  Mix them together with a little water dump the slurry into a mold wait a bit and the Romans gave us this:

What clever creatures we are, over the years we did this:

And this:

Perhaps this:

Smaller:

BIGGER:

Meanwhile nature did her work and here is the result:

Phantom Curve - Conglomerate of Conejos Formation Breccias

And this:

Toltec Tunnel - 366' Metamorphic Rock

Turn her loose and this is what you get:

Massif:

Blanca Massive from Little Bear

Overwhelming:

Sangre De Christo - "The Blood of Christ"

 Sublime:

San Antonio Mountain at Twilight

 Vast:

Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument - Taos County, NM

 I think all youngsters have a moment when they realize how insignificant they are.  It may be on a beach pondering the uncountable grains of sand, sleeping with a window open listening to the sounds of a forest or laying on the ground at night looking into the velvet vault of the sky and realizing just how tiny we are.  In times such as this we need to ground ourselves and look at the world around us.  I do this by riding a train and telling a story about the land, the people and the railroad.  We look back and ask, "How could they do this with pick and shovel", now we need to look forward learning the lessons of our past.  If our kind could do all that with so little how much more are we capable of if we remember our place in the world nature has given us and treat it gently.

P.S.:  I started this post just after five this evening and posted it at nine thirty this evening.  I enjoy writing them I hope you enjoy reading same.

Thanks

j

The "Hill" in New Mexico...

I have mentioned Local Legends in a couple posts but they just seem to keep on coming so today I hope to polish this road apple of wisdom a bit more.

D&RG 315 on "Hangman's Trestle" Colorado - D&RG Net

We were just started on a trip from Antonito to Chama when, in the open car, I asked, "What is a local legend?"  A passenger quickly responded, "Something local folks believe that is not true."  Pretty much correct but, sometimes there may be an element of truth underneath the legend.  The question is asked  as we are approach Fergueson's Trestle which is better known as "Hangman's Trestle" because it is a great example of a "Local Legend." In this case a miscreant named "Fergueson" was supposedly hauled out of town on a "borrowed" locomotive and thence hanged at the Trestle for doing some heinous deed, or deeds.  Fergueson may have existed and likely has a historic basis yet, no record of him has been found.  The "heinous deed or deeds" bids fair as the result of a fanciful story concocted over a cup of coffee on a cold winters night in some such place as the Big Horn Section House.  This story when enhanced by a true story worthy of the Marx Brothers namely, the destruction and rebuilding of the trestle as a result of an ill conceived movie stunt, hilarity always ensues at least for a brief moment.  When the gravity of this historical affront is fully taken in the smiles fade.  

The picture above is a light freight pulled by a beautiful locomotive the D&RG #315 but I would like you to look again taking a wider view of the landscape.  This isn't about Fergueson's Trestle it is about that oddly symmetrical hill just behind the train on Hangman's Trestle and another Local Legend.  This is today's story:

San Antonio Mountain at Lava Tank - Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

The "symmetrical hill" in the first picture is one of the most prominent landmarks on the Cumbres and Toltec.  From far out on the line, beyond Lava Tank and Big Horn Wye, you can see the Mountain either on the horizon or rising beyond a ridge above the Rio De Los Pinos.  It is so ubiquitous that you lose sight of it amidst the ongoing revelations on your journey.  At times it seems to loom over everything and at others it seems insignificant.  It all depends on atmospheric conditions and exactly where you are in the journey.  As you travel further away it can look huge and as you come closer it seems to shrink.  It's all in your mind's eye and the near perfect symmetry of the Mountain.   In the top picture the train is actually closer to the Mountain than the one below but it doesn't seem thay way.  Only one photograph, "The Vista Across the Rio Grande Rift Plateau", shows the totality of the Mountain.

San Antonio Mountain from the North on US 285 - Colorado

That "hill" is San Antonio Mountain, all 10,918' of it, is located in the far north end of the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field in New Mexico.  It rises as the highest point in the Volcanic field and is considered an excellent example of a "shield volcano."  The name is derived from an appearance similar to a soldiers shield lain flat on the ground in an upright position.  It supports the wintering of a herd of over 1,000 individual Elk.  It can also be observed from as far away as 60 miles on a clear day which is typical when on the floor of San Luis Valley to the north in Colorado and from above the Rio Grand Rift Plateau to the south in New Mexico.

"The Vista Across the Rio Grande Rift Plateau" - San Antonio Mountain and the Rio Grande Rift From the South
New Mexico

How San Antonio Mountain developed could involve a long diatribe about rocks and lava but not here.  This is about legends and such so I will just try to keep it brief.

San Antonio Mountain is the highest mountain in the Taos Volcanic Field in New Mexico through which the Rio Grande Rift has torn the surface asunder.  It was formed from flowing lava about one to four million years ago, which is after the last volcanic event in the San Juan Volcanic Field - the long and violent eruption of Los Mogotes Volcano - to the north and before the events in Yellowstone far to the north.  It is formed from flowing, or sheeting, lava  produced by the volcanic action which builds up in to a "shield" shape as progressive layers of flowing lava are laid down in sheets through ongoing eruptions.

Mount San Antonio is a dormant volcano of relatively recent geological activity within the past 1.5 million years.  The San Juan Volcanic Field is generally older than the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field and even younger fields with spectacular features are to the south and west around Los Alamos.

Moving on:

On one trip last year I heard a fellow of high repute state, "Locals say wisps of steam can be seen coming off San Antonio Mountain.  Perhaps we are in for some volcanic activity there."  Yet another long-time nabob of the rails took the time to loudly correct my comments saying, "There is a caldera at the top of San Antonio Mountain."  To both of which I unabashedly state, "Balderdash."

Time for a reality check:

The first of the comments regarding the issuance of steam from the mountain is pure wishful thinking which doesn't even rise to the level of Local Legend.  If there was any sort of activity such as steam venting every federal and state agency associated with planetary physics would be all over the thing - they aren't, and it would make international news - it hasn't.  So much for that topic.

The next assertion is the presence of a caldera.  I assumed this to mean an actual cavity such as that seen in the Valles Caldera of New Mexico, La Garita Caldera at Creede, Colorado or even Los Magotes Volcano/Caldera.  The answer to that assertion is presented in two Images.

The first is a topographical map from the USGS.  This map is the top of San Antonio Mountain.  At the top is a large relatively flat area - approximately a quarter mile across with a tiny bump at the southeast corner.  It is likely this may have been the location of an ancient caldera; it appears that is not now the case.

Topographical map of San Antonio Mountain - USGS

Then again, this is only a "map" and the actual surface may be quite different.  And, so it is.  High level images of the Mountain show large rectangular swaths of trees missing.  It is as if a giant razor has mown them down; the edge of one can be seen in the right hand side and top left of the picture below.  Such regular shapes are not found in nature and they indicate two things: the Mountain has been clear cut in numerous areas and, the Mountain is generally level enough for logging activities.

Further inspection of the picture notes a curious band circumventing the "Electronic Station" at the end of the National Forest Road.  This does not appear to be cleared and may be a rock outcropping upon which trees cannot readily grow.  If the latter is the case the curvature could be indicative of the remains of a large volcanic outcropping associated with a small caldera.  This would fit with the overall character the volcanic structure.

The final image is a broad overview of the topography associated with the Cumbers and Toltec Railroad.  The yellow line wandering through the image is Colorado/New Mexico Why 17.  The Railroad generally follows to the south of that highway.  Antonito, Osier and Cumbers, Colorado are noted as is Chama, NM.  The railroad crosses the State Line 11 times and the valley of the Rio De Los Pinos and Toltec Gorge are very clear - this is the route of the railroad.   To the south and east you will note a the telltale round shape of a volcano circled with a red line.  This is Mount San Antonio.

Aerial view of the crest of San Antonio Mountain - Google Image

Conejos & Archuletta Counties, Colorado & Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

We can revel in Local Legend and speculation but the story needs no aggrandizement;  when passed to others with honesty and candor its wonder and beauty will be revealed in the telling.

The story of the Denver and Rio Grande San Juan Extension National Historic Monument is told in three parts: the People and the Railroad but first of all, the Land.  To truly know the story you have to understand all the parts and that is the task, and happy duty, of a docent - as I understand it.

j

Building Colors on The Cumbres and Toltec

Chama Depot - Built 1899 - Restored by The Friends of The Cumbres and Toltec

This is a re-post of an entry from May, 2016 titled, "The Station Agent."  Nothing has been updated but the subject may be interesting for the avid railroader.

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Fin, Olivia and Joe

Last night G and I took the time to view, for the first time, a comedy-drama called, “The Station Agent”.  The story revolved around three people who were essentially abandoned and managed to form a relationship through trial and error.  The lead acting of Peter Drinklage, “Fin” in the movie and you would recognize him from Game of Thrones, was extraordinary.  The other two leads were Patricia Clarkson and Boby Cannaval, both did an exceptional job.

Fin worked in a hobby shop repairing model trains.  His co-worker, and business owner, dies and the business is closed and sold leaving Fin abandoned.  However, in his will the owner leaves an abandoned railroad depot to Fin.  The story takes off from there and I encourage you to see the short sweet film.

Depot at Newfoundland, New Jersey

The object of this post is the abandoned railroad depot inherited by Fin.  It is everything you would expect, a cute little “Railroad Victorian” along the tracks with creaking doors and a dusty interior cluttered with railroad furnishings.  The structure is symbolic of the three characters in the story as they, like the depot, are all abandoned in their own way.  This symbolism is furthered by the depots cracked and patched and boarded windows with flaking white paint.

The film got it exactly right as railroads routinely board the windows and paint abandoned buildings white.  This identifies them for train crews and indicates the eventual removal of the structure by demolition. 

In a previous post I noted the various colors of buildings on the Cumbres and Toltec.  In the various pictures was a boxcar red structure, several gold structures with brown trim and a historic site filled with white buildings.  These buildings are painted the same color as found when the States of Colorado and New Mexico purchased the 65 miles of track between Antonito and Chama in 1970.

Sublette, NM Section House

The structures in Sublette, NM (Mile Post 306), a National Historic Site, are all painted white indicating they had been abandoned by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad at some point shortly before the D&RG abandoned the line.  The windows are boarded-up with whimsical curtains and children and pets looking out.  The family of the section foreman lived in the section house and their children took the train to Antonito for school.  Orders for food and necessities were given to passing train crews and they brought back the items on the next train across.  There is also living quarters for the maintenance crews plus locomotive watering and coal bins.  Sublette also has an explosives bunker sunk into the side of a hill immediately west of the buildings.  This bunker dispensed all the explosives necessary to construct the railroad in 1880.

Osier Section House

Osier Dining Hall

In Osier (Mile Post 318), a National Historic Site, we see boxcar red structures and one large gold structure with brown trim.  The large gold structure is “new” being by the railroad within the last 10 years or so to serve as a dining room for the passengers.  The remaining structures are the original buildings at Osier which are all painted the color when constructed in 1880.

Cumbres Section House

Car Inspector's house

Cumbres (Mile Post 330), a National Historic Site, has gold buildings with brown trim.  Cumbres was a required stop to allow the “car inspector” to check the brakes when coming-off or starting the descent of the 4% grade.  As with both Sublette and Osier, a wide variety of buildings still exist at Cumbres.  At this point you may have noted a striking similarity between the three section houses.  This is due to the railroad using a standardized plan for its structures.  Similarly, at three of the National Historic Sites there is also a bunkhouse for MOW workers, of log construction, all of which are nearly identical.  The car inspector's house is unique because of the extreme rarity of this particular job.  4% grades were very rare and none were remotely like the situation at the beginning/end of the "Helper District" at Cumbres.

Chama Bunkhouse

Chama Coal Tipple

For the railroad fan the crown jewel has to be Chama.  With the exception of a new, now 45 year old, engine house, the railroad yard is a near 100 year old “time capsule” from the 1920’s.  The structures are universally gold with brown trim indicating their use at the time the line was abandoned in 1968.  The only exception is the remarkable wooden coal tipple which continues under restoration but still operates and is painted in the original boxcar red.     

Now you know the story of the buildings of many colors from the last post and that’s my story for this day.

End of The Season...

Outside Frame Narrow Gauge Locomotive - May, 2015

In 1903 the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad took delivery of 15 "mikado" type, 2-8-2 wheel arrangement, locomotives designated as the K27 class by the D&RG from the Baldwin Locomotive Works.  The 2-8-2 mikado type was a derivation of an 1897 Baldwin design for Nipon Railway in Japan.  Because of its balance, power and speed this type endured in general freight service to the end of steam.

The 15 K27's erected by Baldwin for the D&RG were specific designs which compensated for some of the issues related to narrow gauge railroads.  The drive rods and counter weights were outside the locomotive frame while the drive wheels were placed inside the frame.  This allowed a significantly larger boiler and tractive effort at the cost of high speed due to the small 44" drivers.  Thus, up to 1938 the narrow gauge passenger trains, such as The "San Juan Express" and "The Shavano", were drawn by small inside frame T12 types which had larger 46" drivers and light weight generating higher speed at the cost of tractive effort.  In 1938 the T12's which were built in 1895 were finally retired as the narrow gauge passenger business wound down.

The k27's in turn were replaced by the significantly more powerful K37 mikado's which were erected by Baldwin in 1925 and K37's re-engineered to narrow gauge at the D&RG Burnham shops in Denver from earlier standard gauge consolidations erected in 1903 by Baldwin.  The K27's were progressively moved to switcher duty in places such as Salida, Colorado and were thence scrapped.

The last two out of the Baldwin works survived with the last of the line, #464, moving from Salida to Durango, then on to Knott's Berry Farm in California and finally to the Huckleberry railroad just north of Flint, Michigan.  It was converted to an oil burner and still runs, shiny and new looking, on a four mile round trip each day.

Last K27 from the Baldwin Works - D&RG #464 on the Huckleberry Railroad - Stock Photo

Considered a "monster", because of her then extraordinary size, when she entered service she also gained the title of "Mudhen" as did the rest of the k27 series. K27's had a tendency to wobble, or waddle, in a horizontal plane due to the length of their drive train when operating on the early D&RG narrow gauge road bed.  When operating on the substantially upgraded road bed of the C&TS that tendency is minimized.  With an adhesive weight of over 105,000 pounds and locomotive weight of 135,650 pounds they were huge when compared to a typical narrow gauge locomotive of the era such as the 4-6-0 T12 which has a 50,603 pound adhesive weight and a locomotive weight of  70,550 pounds.  

T12 # 168 - Now being restored to service by the C&TS - Wikipedia

The K27 locomotive alone has an 18,000 pound greater weight than the total weight of both the T12 locomotive and its tender and the K27 adhesive force and tractive effort is more than double. 

The next to last off the line at Baldwin was the D&RG #463.  By the end of her life she was in switcher duty in Salida and she was headed for a very different fate than her sister #464.  When the line was abandoned #463 was shipped to the ranch of actor Gene Autry in California.  There she resided until Autry's death at which time she was given to the community of Antonito, Colorado to be placed on static display.  As luck would have it Antonito is the eastern terminus of the Denver and Rio Grande San Juan Extension National Historic Landmark better known as The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. 

It didn't take long for the clever fellows at the railroad to figure out #463 may have it in her to handle a head of steam over 64 miles and a 4% grade.  And that is where today's story begins:

D&RG K27 #463 at Osier, Colorado - May, 2015

It was a busy morning in Chama today.  An overflow crowd boarded the train to Cumbres and beyond.  At times such as this extra cars are added up to accommodate the large manifest.  Enough additional cars and a locomotive has to be attached to act as "helper" up the 4% grade from Chama to Cumbres.  Typically the train has three or four coaches, a concession car, open car, excursion class car and Parlor Car.  On days such as this an additional two or three cars are added. 

D&RG K36 Double Headed - Stock Photo

The K36 is the real "Big Boy" on the Cumbres and Toltec.  It has the power to pull 10 passenger cars up the 4% to Cumbres.  The smaller K27 can barely manage 8 on the same grade thus when #463 is the road engine it needs a help up the grade and that job is reserved for the K36.  So it was that K36

D&RG K36 #484 - Chama, NM July, 2016

#484 was scheduled for helper duty to assist road engine K27 #463 up the grade to Cumbres this morning.  The train makes a mandatory stop on Cumbres for inspection where the helper, #484, will be cut-off to return to Chama with #463 carrying the train on to Osier and Antonito.

Chama Yard Looking South October 5, 2016 - Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec - Web Cam screen shot

As usual a big crowd gathered to look at all the equipment and see the locomotives in action.  The whistle sounded four long blasts signaling "All Aboard" and the stampede to the depot restrooms commenced.  Fortunately a Docent managed to get them directed to the train before departure.

Chama Yard at Depot October 5, 2016 - Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec - Web Cam screen shot

With a clear sky presaging a great trip the train pulled out of the Chama yard.  As the train left the yard the Docent was alone in the open car.  Shortly thereafter the Conductor will check all the tickets and the car will fill with passengers anticipating the wonders of Autumn in New Mexico and Colorado.  On the C&TS the passengers are free to move about the train and a favorite place to congregate is the "open car" where a running commentary is given by a volunteer Docent who also answers questions that may arise.  The rides are lengthy but it is the goal of every employee and volunteer - The Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec - to make sure our guests fully enjoy their journey.

Chama Yard & Tank Looking North October 5, 2016 - Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec - Web Cam screen shot

At this time of year the aspen trees are just past prime and the sharp brittle smell of snow is not unusual in the now chilly breeze whispering over the Tusas Range.  By October 23rd the railroad will close down for the long winter.  Coincidentally, on that date the evening temperature is forecast to fall to the low 20's with snow accumulating for the morning of the 24th.  That morning the yard will be quiet as the snow begins to accumulate over the long winter that follows.

Chama in Winter - Stock Photo

I am only a few weeks home from Chama and I miss the sound of steam and smell of the smoke; the motion of the cars and the ongoing conversation while we travel the 64 miles to the far end.  This is now a fond memory of a year filled with discovery and happiness.  Through the winter we will look at pictures and I will continue research and training for my ongoing task as a Docent.  In the fullness of time G and I will return next summer and as long as possible through the years that follow.  The people we talk with will be different, the railroad will be remarkably unchanged and the land will remain timeless.  On our return I will again have the joy of telling anew the story of the People, the Land and the Railroad that is The Denver and Rio Grande San Juan Extension National Historic Landmark.

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