Wow! It looks like you had a fantastic trip to my fair state. Thanks for sharing!
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.
On our vacations, if I don't get enough planning support from the family, I start planning "RR events" and that usually gets their attention!
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
william6I'm guessing the cabin you stayed in near Pinecliffe is the cabin that is advertised for rent to anyone. I've wanted to stay there for some time now, but can't seem to get my wife interested enough to stay there.
Right you are about which cabin it is. The place is literally referred to as the "Cabin By The Tracks", and their web address is www.coloradorailroadvacation.com. My wife (along with the kids) really enjoyed the cabin. As she was reading my posting, she wanted me to talk about the cabin's washer and dryer and its kitchen well-stocked with dishes, cooking utensils, and refrigerator. The house has lots of railroadiana, and it can sleep six. If you have kids, just ask the owner to cut the grass in the backyard before you get there.
It's great being so close, but not too close, to the train action. I remember one B&B that we stayed at near Galesburg, Illinois a few years back. At night, it felt and sounded like those Illinois highballing trains were going to go right through our bedroom. It's not like that at Colorado's "Cabin By The Tracks".
Hi, some really great pictures you have taken and posted for us railfans. Thank You! My family and I have visited Colorado and gone railfanning in some of the same areas, specifically, the Royal Gorge and Moffat Tunnel areas. I'm guessing the cabin you stayed in near Pinecliffe is the cabin that is advertised for rent to anyone. I've wanted to stay there for some time now, but can't seem to get my wife interested enough to stay there.One of our sons lives in a Denver suburb in a big comfy house with his wife and 3 kids, so it's hard to get everyone interested in staying in a small cabin by the tracks. But I haven't given up on the idea yet! Thanks again for the many pics and great desription of your trip! Bill
You got your daughters to do all that? Wow!
Nice photos, I'm really glad your family had a good time in my alma mater state, and thanks for thinking of us.
RWM
A year ago, in response to an inquiry I posted, I got some good advice on riding some of the more famous tourist lines in Colorado. Toward the end of the string of posts, one of the helpful gentlemen said, "Please let us know what you thought of the trips after you take them." So I thought that I should do that and include a bunch of pictures.
My wife, two daughters (ages 10 & 12), and I took the Capitol Limited and then the California Zephyr to Denver. It may be the last time that we were able to fit in a Superliner family sleeper. The children's bed was just a little small for my older daughter. After we arrived in Denver, we hopped in a taxi and took it to where we had a rental car reserved. We took off to ride Pike's Peak Cog Railway. Knowing that Amtrak could be late into Denver (which it was due the recent flooding for miles around the Mississippi River), we did not have reservations for the cog railway. That worked out. We narrowly got on the next departing train after we arrived.
It was a bit overcast, but it was still spectacular.Our big mistake was that we planed this ride at the beginning of our Colorado visit rather than at the end of it. We could really feel the altitude. At least it didn't really hit us until after we were at the top. Our daughters were wiped out for the trip down and the older one did not recover until the next morning.That evening, we drove to Canon City to stay at the Comfort Inn that is little more than a block from the station for the Royal Gorge.The next morning we awoke bright-eyed and bushy tale. Just when we crossed the tracks to get to the Royal Gorge station, a short local freight came through.The Gorge ride was spectacular. We rode the first of the day to get better photographic light. We were ticketed for an extended dome car and were free to spend time in a fully open observation car (essentially a gondola, one of several on the train).After the trip, we drove to the park at the suspension bridge and got a different view of things.
This is a great location for the family with lots to do: petting zoo; merry-go-round; live entertainment; pulled wagon and horseback rides (an extra cost); tram ride across the gorge, and an incline plane down to the bottom of the gorge.
That evening, we drove to Chama, NM to stay at the Chama Station Inn which is located right across the street from the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad yard and station in Chama. With this line, unless you are going to ride just halfway, your train trip is going to be just one way with a bus taking you the other direction. We wanted to start in Chama because we wanted to ride the more scenic half of the line in the morning light. I recommend that you pick up a copy of Ticket to Toltec by Dorris B. Osterwald. This book includes a number of good B&W maps of the line. While this book can be bought at Chama's local hobby shop and at the C&T book shop at the line's mid-point, the restaurant stop at Osier, I recommend that you try to buy this book weeks in advance particularly if you plan to chase the train and photograph it. These websites are also worth checking out:
We took lots of pictures from the train.The all-you-can-eat buffet lunch stop at Osier was surprisingly good. The stop also gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs and take some pictures of the train at the closest thing to a Harvey House that we ever ate at.East of Osier, there are still scenic locations to photograph.My wife worked the video camera. My two daughters had their own cameras, and I shot with a digital SLR.The next day we chased the train with our cameras. Since it was a Saturday and the train had more passengers, the C&T double-headed the train from Chama to Cumbres Pass. Following a back road and just a little bit of hiking, the train can be photographed going over a 230 ft. steel truss bridge over the Rio Chama at MP 343.60.Highway 17 roughly parallels the line from MP 343 to 340. From there, a number of pictures can be easily taken.Weight restrictions on the Lobato Trestle (MP 339.75) prohibit both locomotives from crossing at the same time, so they are run over separately.From Lobato Trestle to MP 332.75, the line doesn't go far from Highway 17. At MP 332.75, the line crosses at grade Highway 17. This is another easy spot to get good photos.At Cumbres Pass, one of the locomotives was cut off and sent back to Chama.Then, the train continues on to Osier and Antonito. After Cumbres Pass, there are just a few opportunities to easily photograph the train. Around MP 329, the train has left Tanglefoot Curve and dramatic photos can be taken from Highway 17.If you are willing to hike about 100 yards from Highway 17, you can get a good photo at MP 325.50 which includes the Los Pinos Water Tank.Except for Osier which requires a long drive on back roads, the train cannot be easily photographed after the train leaves the extended horseshoe on which the Los Pinos Water Tank is located.That afternoon following the C&T train chasing, we drove to Durango. Durango is such a nice town. I highly recommend staying in downtown Durango. It is such an attractive and vibrant little city. We stayed at Nobody's Inn (http://www.nobodysinn.com).When riding the Durango & Silverton, bring a poncho or some other extra clothing. The ride regularly gets wet and cold as you rise in elevation.Silverton is a tourist trap. What quaintness is has is diminished by all of the diagonal automobile parking. There is a nice shop that sells railroad gifts items and artwork. We ate at the Bent Elbow. The food was fine, and they had a pianist playing mostly ragtime and honky tonk music and a little bit of Beethoven.We bought four D&S sweatshirts just because we were so cold in Silverton and feared being too cold for the ride back.Going back through the High Line and Rockwood Gorge, I noticed where I could position myself for some dramatic photos.When in Durango, be sure to check the D&S impressive collection of artifacts in their museum/roundhouse. Admission is free with your train ticket.The next day, I wanted to dart through the Rockwood Cut to position myself for photos of the train going through the High Line and Rockwood Gorge. I am not recommending that anyone does this. First of all, the railroad's signage makes it clear that you are trespassing as you enter the Rockwood Cut. Second of all, if you don't have a good understanding of when the trains come through, you could find yourself trapped in the tight cut with the train coming and no place to go. I did not take my family on this photographic quest. The location does lend itself to good picture even on dreary days.The D&S gift shop sells a useful fold-out route map.From Durango, we made a long drive to Pinecliffe, CO where we stayed for a week at the "Cabin By The Tracks". Pinecliffe is west of Denver near Tunnel #29 on the route to the Moffat Tunnel. The "dot on the map" community actually has its own Post Office. We used the cabin as our base for all sorts of activities in the Denver area.The Georgetown Loop was a disappointment. I felt that we were victims of a "bait and switch". For the 2008 summer season, they were not going to be using their steam motive power until mid-August. In early August, we were too earlyWe did buy tickets which included the silver mine tour stop mid-point on the line. That was thoroughly worthwhile.The Colorado Railroad Museum also was enjoyable. Their collection includes a great deal of narrow gauge equipment.The museum has a switcher that once belonged to the nearby Coors Brewery. I kid my wife saying that when we came across that Coors switcher, we encountered an intersection of our two favorite hobbies: trains for me and beer for her.We later did a tour of the Coors brewery, which has extensive track throughout its complex. We enjoyed the tour and the beer tasting. (Well, the girls were stuck with soft drinks).Aside from our railfanning activities around Pinecliffe which I will describe shortly, we took in a few other attractions including: Tiny Town which is worthwhile if you have kids between the age of toddler to pre-teen; downtown Denver via a light rail ride caught on the south side of the city; and the Denver Aquarium (the atmosphere of its restaurant is worth it in itself). Now, for our cabin and the Pinecliffe area, the cabin is a stone's throw from a grade crossing and the start of a passing siding. The grade crossing signal gives you a bit of warning to dart out of the cabin to take some pictures. Our cabin was clean, comfortable, and spacious with a DVD and VCR player and a number of railfan tapes on hand.These are the two best websites that I have found to give guidance on how to get to interesting photo locations in the area:
We got to Moffat Tunnel.With a little bit of trespassing, I also got an easy view of Big Ten Curve.It's difficult to photograph Big Ten Curve late in the day due to the frequent afternoon rain showers in this part of the Rockies during that time of the year.Gross Dam Road crosses the line between Tunnels 18 & 19. From there and nearby, I was able to take a number of decent pictures.Due to the length of our vacation, we flew back to the East Coast rather than take the train. It was a trip of a lifetime, and my family and I are grateful for having been able to take it.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.