Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec - FriendsOfCumbresToltec.org

They are repositioning locomotives at the house early today. The 487 moved from east to west side opening up the 463.

Morning preparations for today's train 216: So after the earlier moves, 487 is today's locomotive anyway.









There is not going to be a double header today, so what is with 463 getting ready?

Departure of train 216: 487 and 8 cars Also the prep of 463 for something



Is it just me, or do these gentleman in bibs not look like regular C&TS employees? Wonder how much it would cost to charter your own train to get an experience as locomotive crew?


Well looks like at the last minute they decided they needed 4 coaches today. That is adaptability on the grand scale to meet the needs of your customers.



As the train passes the tipple the engineer blows for the running brake test.

I believe it is a special chartered by previous graduates of the fireman/engineers school.

The regular or advanced schools or both?

Departure of 463 and the special. If Ian is correct, this is one way to get added experience and exposure to steam operations.

I believe all the participants on the special have done the fireman and engineers schools as well as the advanced class. So they have already spent $10,000 apiece. Not sure how much the special is costing them - depends on how many days they've booked.

These classes are not for the average working bloke! That $10,000 is an at least. One gentleman who has posted here has done the basic class 3 or 4 times and the advanced twice and plans to be back next year for another advanced. Cost also depends on how many are doing it, though I bet they have limited it so they all can have a good experience.

I'm saving my pennies and waiting for the day I can take those classes.

Sharon Evans wrote:These classes are not for the average working bloke! That $10,000 is an at least. One gentleman who has posted here has done the basic class 3 or 4 times and the advanced twice and plans to be back next year for another advanced. Cost also depends on how many are doing it, though I bet they have limited it so they all can have a good experience.

A minor correction, you will pay the posted price for each class if you only request one seat. If you want more time in the cab then you can buy another seat (if available) at the posted price. The Fireman's school is limited to six seats for each session as is the Engineer's school (total of 12 students per session). The Advanced class is limited to 6 total students. Using the current school rates, a charter would run about $7500 per day.

Jason Rose wrote:I'm saving my pennies and waiting for the day I can take those classes.

In my Fireman school we had a father / son team. You've got about 18 years to save up.

Pete Dahlberg wrote:

Jason Rose wrote:I'm saving my pennies and waiting for the day I can take those classes.

In my Fireman school we had a father / son team. You've got about 18 years to save up.

Now that's a cool idea, Pete. Would make a helluva cool graduation present (assuming he's into the railroad thing). Then, he goes off to college and Daddy goes to work for the C&T.

But, it's only 16 years... or about 5,900 days.

Pete Dahlberg wrote:

Sharon Evans wrote:These classes are not for the average working bloke! That $10,000 is an at least. One gentleman who has posted here has done the basic class 3 or 4 times and the advanced twice and plans to be back next year for another advanced. Cost also depends on how many are doing it, though I bet they have limited it so they all can have a good experience.

A minor correction, you will pay the posted price for each class if you only request one seat. If you want more time in the cab then you can buy another seat (if available) at the posted price. The Fireman's school is limited to six seats for each session as is the Engineer's school (total of 12 students per session). The Advanced class is limited to 6 total students. Using the current school rates, a charter would run about $7500 per day.

Pete, my comment about cost was referring to today's charter not the school trains which have the fixed cost per place. There was a comment made on here of a person buying all 6 seats for one session so he had the throttle the entire week. The other way to get extra time is if they don't sell all 6 seats which happened on one session this year.

Jason Rose wrote:

Pete Dahlberg wrote:

Jason Rose wrote:I'm saving my pennies and waiting for the day I can take those classes.

In my Fireman school we had a father / son team. You've got about 18 years to save up.

Now that's a cool idea, Pete. Would make a helluva cool graduation present (assuming he's into the railroad thing). Then, he goes off to college and Daddy goes to work for the C&T.

But, it's only 16 years... or about 5,900 days.

In our class the son was in his early 20s. What I found interesting was that at the start of the class the son really didn't care to be there, but at the end of the class the son was the first to sign up for Engineer school.

Arrival of train 215: 489 and standard 7 cars

The open gon seems almost full this afternoon.

Return of the charter freight:


They picked up the 4 stock cars that had been left at Cumbres.

Here's today's video --

Train 216, only an 8 car train today so no double-header. Have to wonder if we may have seen the last one of the year, as loads tend to drop off during the final couple weeks of the season.



As noted above this is a special charter that students from the prior schools have setup. Looks like a great time!!!



Train 215 Arrival back in Chama



A deer crosses the tracks just before 463 rounds the bend bringing back the student charter