Steam & Excursion > A few CATS scenes from last weekend

This past weekend I got to work an item off my post-retirement "bucket list" by riding the Cumbres and Toltec in the open car westbound one day and then back eastbound in the parlor car the next day.  Here are a few scenes that turned up in my view finder during the trip.
1)  Standing on the front platform of the first coach in the train as we start climbing the terraces out of Antonito.  That platform is great if you don't mind the shower of coal cinders and condensed steam.  I had to clean my lens after being there for a few minutes.
2) Fireman moving coal around and sorting it for size during the lunch stop at Osier.  The clouds built up to afternoon thunderstorms both days, making for dramatic skies and high contrast scenes throughout the day. 
3) Study of some of the moving parts on #489 in Chama before heading out for Cumbres Pass.  Everything has a well-lubed look about it.

I took a lot more shots than just these few and will look for a few more unusual scenes to post later. 
Thanks for lookin' -
- Kit

 

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

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4) #489 looking sharp with the pilot snow plow, framed between a couple of restored boxcars.

In 1973, a seventeen-year-old CimaScrambler hitchhiked to Chama to see what was there, got to hang out with the crew restoring a lomotive in the engine house and help strip paint from a passenger car using an old-style blow torch, and then spent the night in one of those boxcars to get out of the rain.  Quite the memory.  To see the outfit doing so well today is a real thrill.  Spending two days riding it both ways this past week was pure pleasure.

Be safe out there -
- Kit
 

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

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Great stuff Kit, thanks for sharing, keep the images coming!!!

Very nice.  20 years ago, it was quite a moving experience for me.  I had grown up around steam in Indiana, but to see and experience a place like Chama that was stuck in time was simply awesome. 

Those are wonderful images.   You visited a property that has been exhaustedly photographed and came up with fresh and compelling pictures.
JB - Omaha