Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava

Progress is being made, but slowly on the NG Cumbres Pass line. I'm pretty well done from Antonito (MP 281) to MP 310 - about a mile east of Mud Tunnel. Much of the scenery is in place along the rest of the route, but there are still some gaps in the vegetation, and Chama's not quite completed. I do need to make some additional changes to the entire route, such as change the track texture and add some distant mountains, but here's a few shots of the 1st 10 miles (pretty much the boring part):Idling south through Antonito toward the junction to Chama. We're north of the depot and alongside the coaling trestle:
Crossing Hangman's Trestle, just past MP 386. The terrain is still pretty barren here, and will be until we get close to Big Horn:
Still east of Lava, but starting to see a hint of the rugged terrain that's ahead of us:
Charging past Lava (if 25 mph can be called "charging"):
I'll be posting more as it gets done - hope to be done and ready for testing in a month or so.Andy

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RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, jonathanmlewis, Sep-26-03, 11:27 AM, (1) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, WestSlopeRRfan, Sep-29-03, 03:01 PM, (2) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, DRGWK36, Sep-29-03, 06:10 PM, (3) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, WestSlopeRRfan, Sep-30-03, 09:30 PM, (5) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, K36487, Sep-30-03, 09:36 PM, (6) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, DRGWK36, Oct-01-03, 08:05 AM, (7) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, WestSlopeRRfan, Oct-01-03, 02:21 PM, (8) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, DRGWK36, Oct-01-03, 10:13 PM, (10) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, K36487, Oct-01-03, 06:44 PM, (9) RE: Cumbres Pass Update - Antonito to Lava, K36487, Sep-29-03, 06:17 PM, (4)

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Looking very nice Andy.Keep up the good work.http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge

Jonathan Lewis
jonathanmlewis@msn.com

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Your progress looks great. When you're cruising along at 25mph, I'll bet the route sure does seem long.Nick

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It makes it about a 2-1/2 trip, which is faster than reality for a freight. The 1951 employee timetable lists the speed limit between Antonito and Lava as 20 mph, between Lava and Cumbres as 18 mph, and 12 mph from Cumbres nearly into Chama. I think the actual freights took about 4 hours to go from Antonito to Chama, which is 64 miles. Passenger trains were limited to 40 mph to Lava and 30 mph to Cumbres, so it wasn't nearly as long. I think I'll keep the freight speed limit at 30, except in certain locations. The track on my route is in much better shape that for the real line Andy

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Well we all know those little narrow guage engine were not built for speed. Neither was the track for that matter. It can get boring, despite how much fun it is, to sit there trying to hold the speed at 20 or less. Have you been on the C&T lately? Doesn't the trip take most the day? Its about the only tourist line in Colorado I have yet to ride.Nick

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Was there in August. Yes, it goes from about 9 am to 5 or 6 pm. It's definatley worth it. You want to go now though...next year they might have some problems...
Future Cumbres & Toltec or Durango & Silverton Engineer. Go to my informative K-36 page:
http://www.freewebs.com/drgwk36 Visit the Pheasant Hill Railroad's (My G-scale) official site!http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge/ngmodelinggscale.msnwVisit the Red Mountain Gorge Narrow Gauge R.R.'s official
site:
http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge/narrowgaugerouteformsts.msnw

*Proud to be a "Friend" of the Cumbres & Toltec.*

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I've never ridden that line. When I lived out that way, I always thought I'd "get around to it," but never did. I'm starting to plan a trip out that way (I'm on the east coast these days) for next summer, but as Jonathan noted, the railroad is having some serious financial difficulties. I'll keep my fingers crossed.And you're right about it being somewhat boring, especially for the guys who did it for a living and didn't look at the historical aspect of the job. It's a lot different from our perspective today, when we see it as a unique opportunity to go back in time for a few hours. But I'd also guess that the boring ride could get real exciting when there were problems during the ride down the hill into Chama!Andy

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I know about New Mexico trying to get sole ownership of the line. It would be devasating for the small town of Antonito. The biggest problem is there are no big tourist towns at the ends of the track. Antonito and Chama are not thriving tourist magnets. The D&S have Durango which lurs in the tourist with things to do. Just my two cents.

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You're right. Neither Chama nor Antonito has the same atmosphere as Durango. You pretty much have to want to visit to ride the train, and not stay much longer. Railfans can convince the rest of the family to go to Durango to ride the train and then stay and do other things, but that's harder to do in Chama or Antonito. I guess all we can do is hope that there are those around who feel that a unique bit of history is worth saving, but it seems that there are fewer and fewer of those folks around. I'm probably starting to sound too much like an old codger - my wife certainly points that out to me way too much these days Andy

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Boring! Absolutley Not! Hahaha!
Future Cumbres & Toltec or Durango & Silverton Engineer. Go to my informative K-36 page:
http://www.freewebs.com/drgwk36 Visit the Pheasant Hill Railroad's (My G-scale) official site!http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge/ngmodelinggscale.msnwVisit the Red Mountain Gorge Narrow Gauge R.R.'s official
site:
http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge/narrowgaugerouteformsts.msnw

*Proud to be a "Friend" of the Cumbres & Toltec.*

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Looks awesome!!
Future Cumbres & Toltec or Durango & Silverton Engineer. Go to my informative K-36 page:
http://www.freewebs.com/drgwk36 Visit the Pheasant Hill Railroad's (My G-scale) official site!http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge/ngmodelinggscale.msnwVisit the Red Mountain Gorge Narrow Gauge R.R.'s official
site:
http://groups.msn.com/MSTSNarrowGauge/narrowgaugerouteformsts.msnw

*Proud to be a "Friend" of the Cumbres & Toltec.*

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