First Train to Toltec

This DVD takes you behind the scenes as the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad opens the line blockaded by a boulder! After clearing the line, we ride on a specially chartered freight train. The first order of business is to clear the line, and we go along on a special work train dispatched to clear a boulder that sits squarely on the tracks. A crew has blasted the rock with dynamite then the work train with its loader is used to clear the rubble off the tracks so repairs can be made. This is an unusual operation, all taking place in remote Colorado high country. When the line is cleared, board a special charter, an authentically lettered “Rio Grande” freight train. We start out of Chama, New Mexico with K-37 2-8-2 #497 in the lead with good size freight train headed for the summit of Cumbres Pass. Engine 484 is a rear helper coupled in just ahead of the caboose, as they tackle the 4% grade which includes a stop for both engines to water at the Cresco tank.

As elevation increases to about 9500 feet, the snow deepens from where the Rotary had cleared a few days earlier, and the freight crests 10,015 foot Cumbres Pass in a 6 foot trench of snow. Later our train encounters a huge drift of snow near Osier, and our helper engine, now running ahead of the train, plows the snow several times, and derails. After re-railing we head east to shoot a snow-covered locomotive at several locations, including the Toltec Tunnel. We are the first train of the season to reach this location, a remote spot in the Rockies – on the narrow gauge with a steam-hauled freight train!