Framedlight

  In Chama we turned northeast on to Highway 17 and into Colorado. As we ascended towards the Cumbres Pass (10,022 ft) the weather worsened and finally we were driving on compacted snow with very little traffic around. It was quite frightening and we were glad of the 4x4 we had rented. Descending the weather improved although it was still very cold. The road then turns east and follows the Conejos River and we stopped by the side of the road several times to look at it. Finally we were driving through Antonito, a very small town whose prosperity is now helped by the legal selling of marijuana which has been illegal in New Mexico until only recently. We stopped to look at the northern terminus of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad but the goods yard was not as extensive as the Chama one.

  We drove through Chama and were pleasantly surprised to come across a train terminal with station buildings and locomotives. The station at Chama is the western terminus of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway. This is a stream driven heritage railway which operates during the summer months, taking tourists the 64 miles between Antonito and Chama. The railroad is all that is left from the Denver and Rio Grande Railway extension running from Alamosa Colorado, west to Chama New Mexico and then on to Durango Colorado. The railway is narrow gauge as it was cheaper to build and also the trains can take sharper bends. The track had to be taken through two tunnels, over a 10,015 mountain pass and around a 600 ft gorge! It was used to transport minerals and then oil and lumber. However the Cumbres Pass proved problematic. In the winter the area can get as much as 500 inches of snow. The company bought two rotary snow ploughs which are still in Chama but in the winter of 1951 - 1952 the ...