Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec - FriendsOfCumbresToltec.org

What happened. I noticed that there was no westbound arrival by 8pm Chama time on Oct. 17, and this morning, Oct. 18, there was no equipment for a eastbound. Seems a bit irregular though late in the season.

Jerry Sullivan

I was wondering that, too. Thought maybe the photo charter scheduled for today had a n effect on it's return arrival?

I noticed that there was the usual gaggle of cars in the lot, and the bus was waiting when I first looked in about 4pm Chama time. Then after an hour or so of nothing happening, I looked again from the south facing camera and the cars were still in the lot but the bus was gone. You may know, but on the next to last westbound in 2022, I was the docent. A tree was down on the turnout at E.E. Toltec siding but that only caused a 30' delay or so while the crew eliminated it. The next day there was no eastbound, i.e. the last day of 2022, and I heard there was a running gear issue on the locomotive. Never found out what it was. At 84, it was time to retire from docent, but I loved it. This past July was my last run.

Jerrry

Looks like things are back to normal seeing the 2 engines in Chams yard now.

Yes, the westbound arrived about a half hour late last night but it was the standard 8 car consist except that the new Parlor Car "Jim Wrenn" was added on the rear. Probably won't see the departure today as I have a conflict. Last winter it was nice to look through those cameras at a white curtain of falling snow more than once and the ranchers we meet when we attend church out there were happier than the year before.

No westbound arrrived today, either, Oct. 19, so I guess those oddities were scheduled. They did have a photo special todday out of Antonito?

Jerry Sullilvan -- 7:45pm mountain time.

As of 8:30 Chama time there is now no train at the Chama depot.

It's 10 am CDT and no train. There was a post this am on the CTS Facebook page saying there was room on the final 2 trains. Now do we read this as 1 train each day with today's west bound and then back to Antonito tomorrow?

I learned today that a decision (not a good one in my opinion) was made some weeks back to only run one train a day the last week. So last Sunday a train went from Antonito to Chama. No trains at all on Monday. Tuesday, Chama to Antonito, Wednesday Antonito to Chama, Thursday Chama to Antonito, Friday Antonito to Chama, AND THE LAST TRAIN OF THE SEASON WILL BE TOMORROW, OCT. 21, CHAMA TO ANTONITO AT THE USUAL TIME. My contact could not figure out why a lot of $$ was left on the table so to speak, especially since the fall colors were still bright.

Jerry Sullivan

Have to sadly agree Jerry. Unless there is some underlying issue that we are not aware of, that's an entire trainload of paying customers missing from the bottom line. You make that 6 trains for the week that's a lot. This does put most of the coaches in Antonito at the end of the season, making the need for a "hospital train" unlikely.

Sharon,

Correct about hospital trains. The eastbound left about 15 minutes late with 13 cars. This included both a regular parlor and also the new "Jim Wrinn" car. Behind that was a caboose, I assume a caboose charter and there was a large crowd that got on the train. There were 3 extra coaches but one was the flat top "Sublet" which has sat around the Chama yard for a few weeks. I can't be sure but I believe all of the remaining passenger equipment was on the train. The 2nd engine was the 463 if I remember right and I believe it is supposed to winter in Chama this year. I made my last trip as a Docent on July 9, did a COA. My wife wanted to do something else for vacation next year and by the next year I will be 86, so I figured I might be more of a liability than a help. We might go back one more time to ride during the colors season in 2025. My good friends Jack Warner and Billy Crider, both of whom had the dubious distinction of training me, have also retired.

Jerry