Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad: Storming Up Cumbres Pass

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is one of America's finest tourist railroads. The 64-mile route preserves part of the old Denver & Rio Grande Western 4th Division, boasting the title of the highest and longest narrow gauge railroad in the United States. In July 2022, we traveled out West to document the railroad's daily operations between Chama, NM and Los Piños CO. Each day, Cumbres & Toltec 484 tackled the grueling 4% grade out of Chama, creating deafening stack talk as she snakes her way through the valley to Cumbres Pass and beyond. The roots of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad can be traced back to the Denver & Rio Grande, with the construction of the San Juan Extension in 1880. Passenger and mail service, logging, mining, and the discovery natural gas caused the railroad to boom from its creation all the way into the 1960s. In 1968, the D&RGW filed for abandonment, but shortly thereafter, the states of Colorado and New Mexico stepped in to preserve 64 miles of the 4th Division between Chama and Antonito. To this day, the tourist attraction is the best preserved portion of the D&RGW narrow gauge with all original structures and the largest collection of narrow gauge rolling stock and locomotives. The motive power in this video is Cumbres & Toltec 484, a 2-8-2 K-36 class Mikado built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925. 484 was delivered to the C&TS in 1970 and returned to excursion service in 1983. Ride the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad: https://cumbrestoltec.com Locations: 0:00 Chama, NM 4:09 Jukes Tree 4:59 First Grade Crossing 5:47 Milepost 342 6:19 Milepost 341 6:51 Exiting the Narrows 8:56 Lobato 9:48 Milepost 339 10:28 Dalton 12:00 Second Grade Crossing 14:25 Stateline Curve 15:57 Cresco, CO 16:54 Milepost 334 17:53 Coxo 19:31 Windy Point 20:30 Cumbres Pass, CO 21:57 Los Piños 22:43 Apache Crossing 23:31 Los Piños 26:04 Apache Crossing 26:54 Milepost 329 27:29 Tanglefoot Curve 29:39 Cumbres Pass, CO 31:33 Coxo 32:02 Perry's Pond 32:51 Cresco 33:33 The "S" Curve 34:35 Second Grade Crossing 34:59 Dalton 35:45 Lobato 36:54 Lake Lobato 37:49 Along Highway 17 38:49 Rio Chama Bridge 39:45 Chama, NM Filmed on July 29th, 30th, and 31st, 2022. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ©Train Chamber Productions 2022 All Rights Reserved This video may not be reproduced, copied, or redistributed without the permission of Train Chamber Productions. These videos require time, effort, and numerous resources, in order to be produced. Any unauthorized reproduction will be taken down with accordance to international copyright laws. I apologize for ads, they help fund trips like these to keep bringing content. Thank you for understanding.