Inside the Cab

I love trains.  What kid doesn't?  Guess I'll never grow up.  I remember the train around the tree at Christmas time.  Well, I'm a big kid now and still love the sound of the whistle and the clickity clack of the wheels on the rails.  This summer I took a ride on the Cumbres - Toltec Railroad.  It's the highest, longest narrow gauge steam railroad in the U.S.   It runs from Chama, New Mexico to Antonito, Colorado.  Beautiful unspoiled country.  Before leaving several of us passengers were talking with the engineer and he invited us into the cab.  Oh boy!!!  What a treat.  I have never been close to seeing what it looks like inside the cab.  All those dials and gauges and the hot fire box loaded with coal to keep this big baby moving.  What a thrill.

"Inside the Cab"     © Kathy Dunham 2010

Taking a Break

Working on a steam locomotive is hard work.  Hard, dirty work.  This was a lunch break for the crew on the Cumbres Toltec Railroad as we crossed back and forth between New Mexico and Colorado.  The fireman is the guy in the bowler style hat.  He's the one responsible for keeping the fires stoked with coal.

"Taking a Break"   © Kathy Dunham 2010

"Old 492"

The Cumbre Toltec Railroad is a historical treasure that runs between Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado. It's the highest narrow guage railroad still operating in the country. This old engine, #492, is no longer in service and sits in the railyard in Chama. It's a K-37 type engine with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement. It's boiler was made for a standard gauge locomotive in 1902 but was put onto a new narrow gauge frame in 1928. But alas, it sits rusting in the railyard

"Old 492"    © Kathy Dunham 2010