Which RR should I ride, Combres & Toltec or Durango & Silverton?
The d &s has better scenery. The c&t hands down more rail fan friendly. You can get up close in their yards, and close in for pictures. The c&t has good scenery as well.
I would go to the C&TS first. Chama yard is just as it looked 50 years ago, the Durango yard has been reworked to a tourist train turn-around yard. C&TS is on more tenuous financial grounds, D&S is a cash cow and is in no danger of going away.
Last summer we took the C&T SRR from Chama to Antonito and bus back. We splurged with Parlor Car seats. It was well worth the extra cost. A great trip and wonderful service.
Possibly one of the finest experiences of my lifetime was wakeing up in a B&B in Chama, New Mexico, to the hint of coal smoke waifing through the window screen. There is absolutely no pretense in Chama; it is what it is.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
retiredchief Which RR should I ride, Combres & Toltec or Durango & Silverton?
Both. The two lines are close enough that you can ride both over a long weekend. Each line has a different style. C&T is close to what riding the narrow gauge really was like. D&S has brought (somewhat) big time railroading to narrow gauge.
The scenery is different on each route. C&T has more variety.
The towns all have a different vibe. Durango is sophistication in the middle of nowhere. Chama is a small town that's too small (in 2010) for McDonalds or Starbucks.
Great description. But if I could only do one. It would be the c&t.
Durango Silverton is your sure bet as a fairly short tourist ride. When Rio Grande ran the line they used to do an acted out "old western gun fight" in Silvertion when the train arrived. This should give you an idea of the atmosphere of the ride.
The Cumbries Toltec is a more hard core railfan trip. Considerably less glitz and supportive tourist accomodations. Alamosa is a very rough community and Chama is very, a very rural mountain New Mexico town. This is rail fan atmosphere at the best - you provide the entertainment just by your interest in the steam railroad. Plenty of wild life at Cumbries Toltec - and many visitors are not prepared to avoid the wildlife driving to the Chama, NM site - more than one has hit the mule deer or worse resulting in a very long tow truck ride.
Doc
It's been a while, maybe fifteen years, but there wasn't any hoky "Old West Gunfight" when we rode the D&S to Silverton. That's one thing I can do without.
We DID enjoy the D&S ride tremendously. My advice is you're riding the same is spend the extra money and ride the parlor car, it's well worth it.
I've never ridden the C&T so can't comment on it.
Great point, rode on the c& t parlor, except for lunch and some booze, stood out on the rear platform getting pictures.
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