Change is coming to Chama: 20,000 new riders, controlled access, and maybe a roundhouse for the Cumbres & Toltec?

Cumbres & Toltec 2-8-2 No. 489 lifts a train out of Antonito, Colo., in August 2011. Jim Wrinn photo

CHAMA, N.M. — Anyone who has set foot on this hallowed ground knows just how special the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic is thanks to its heritage and rugged authenticity. The crunch of the cinders below your feet and the well-worn look of the grounds and the equipment tell the tale of the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s difficult narrow gauge mountain railroad that dates to 1881. Calling it a time machine to the 1920s is a cliché, but it fits perfectly.  The haggard look also tells the saga of a publicly owned tourist railroad that’s struggled to exist since 1970.

But that is about to change now.

Starting the first day of 2012, American Heritage Railways will be the new operator for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, the property of the states of Colorado and New Mexico. American Heritage owns the far more popular Durango & Silverton narrow gauge line that is only about two hours away by car from Chama, N.M., the headquarters of the C&TS. American Heritage also is the principal owner of North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains Railroad and the Texas State Railroad. The C&TS has been through a series of operators over the last 15 years; some knew what they were doing; others didn’t. The last group, an off shoot of the non-profit support group Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec, did an incredible job (an investment of $5.5 million in better track, $1.5 million for four locomotive with a fifth, No. 463, set for completion in 2012, and $335,000 for passenger cars), but couldn’t fight the ridership blow of a trestle fire that severed the 64-mile railroad on its most dramatic end with the 4 percent grade to Cumbres Pass. Ridership for 2011 will end up in the 32,000 range, about half of what it was a few years ago, and not enough to earn a profit.

Earlier this month, American Heritage’s CEO, Al Harper, appeared before the commission that oversees the C&TS, and outlined his vision for the railroad. I didn’t go to the meeting, but I saw a YouTube clip of what Al had to say. He wants to see 20,000 new riders the first year with special events driving the figure, and he also has other ideas for the line. As a frequent visitor to both railroads since 1992 and as one who finds both the C&TS and the D&S to be amazing windows into steam railroading as it once was, three key points he made struck me:

• Harper is going in to “win,” ie, make money, as he should. He’ll add special events — Polar Express at Antonito, Colo., the eastern end of the railroad, with a turn at Lava Loop; and Thomas the Tank Engine on the Chama end. He’s even thinking of an amphitheater at Cumbres Pass. He knows that a 10-hour train ride experience is a hard sell in the day of sound bites and video games, and he knows it’s time for shorter trips with a destination.
• He appreciates how open the shop and yard at Chama have been for railfans and he knows that closing that off would be a huge mistake by alienating one of the railroad’s core audiences. He also knows that he has to do something to control access, least he and his staff end up in courtrooms more than they do on board. His idea is a permit system for entry that includes a fee and a safety briefing. That and guided tours will keep the yard accessible. No fence will go up.
• He has an idea for a historic preservation tax on each train ticket sold that would go to the Friends and the commission to rebuild the Chama roundhouse. The original roundhouse was nine stalls, but a 10-stall roundhouse, Harper says, could house a shop, working stalls, and a visitor’s center, which is planned for the railroad. For a railroad that’s always been cramped for space, that would be a huge step forward.

So much of what will shape the C&TS over the next 20 years is beyond anyone’s control. Neither terminal is a prime tourist spot; neither is likely to be. As spectacular as the scenery is on the C&TS, a daylong steam train ride is beyond what many Americans consider fun today. New thinking is what this wonderful old railroad needs. It is change in the name of keeping it the way it was.