Day 2 - Friday 8/27/2021 - Across the Railroad Chase of Two Trains
This was the day of the gigantic across railroad trip for both of the 'Victorian' trains. The Eureka and Glenbrook had a small, period freight with the 168 and 425 handling the historic passenger consists. They were both departing Antonito at 7:15am and due into Chama at 6:00pm. My plan, when I woke up, was to chase the regular train out of Chama over Cumbres and onto Los Pinos, where the road leaves the track. Then camp there and chase the two Victorian trains back to Chama. It took me longer than I am proud of to realize that the regular train was not running that morning in order to free up crews for the Victorian trains.
I got down to the yard in Chama at around 8:00am to find it lacking any action. I mentioned it to a few people and never got the straight answer of the regular train wasn't running, probably because they assumed I knew. By 9:00am or so, I ran into Cody Akin, who was as surprised as I was. Cody and his brother Casey and his wife Rachel were in town doing what I was doing, chasing the Victorian event. They had chased some earlier in the week, left to do some other stuff in Colorado and then just got back into town. The four of us discussed the situation, and in doing so, I admitted that I had never actually chased on the east side of the pass. (The east side only has gravel / dirt roads and isn't chasing from a highway). This is all they needed to hear to volunteer to drive and give me a tour of the east side of the line.
We loaded up into Cody's Four Runner and off we went. You have to drive almost all the way to Antonito to get on the road that takes you back into the area. We were amazed at how many people were back in there doing what we were doing. We were able to get 'deeper' into the east side than most as Cody was willing and able to take any road. We found a spot that was to ourselves on the line between Big Horn and Sublet (36.988380, -106.209423). We didn't have to wait long to see 489 come around the bend in the distance. Not long after that, 168 / 425 and their train was spotted in the distance and right behind them, Eureka / Glenbrook followed. We figured the 489 passed the two specials at Big Horn.
I got down to the yard in Chama at around 8:00am to find it lacking any action. I mentioned it to a few people and never got the straight answer of the regular train wasn't running, probably because they assumed I knew. By 9:00am or so, I ran into Cody Akin, who was as surprised as I was. Cody and his brother Casey and his wife Rachel were in town doing what I was doing, chasing the Victorian event. They had chased some earlier in the week, left to do some other stuff in Colorado and then just got back into town. The four of us discussed the situation, and in doing so, I admitted that I had never actually chased on the east side of the pass. (The east side only has gravel / dirt roads and isn't chasing from a highway). This is all they needed to hear to volunteer to drive and give me a tour of the east side of the line.
We loaded up into Cody's Four Runner and off we went. You have to drive almost all the way to Antonito to get on the road that takes you back into the area. We were amazed at how many people were back in there doing what we were doing. We were able to get 'deeper' into the east side than most as Cody was willing and able to take any road. We found a spot that was to ourselves on the line between Big Horn and Sublet (36.988380, -106.209423). We didn't have to wait long to see 489 come around the bend in the distance. Not long after that, 168 / 425 and their train was spotted in the distance and right behind them, Eureka / Glenbrook followed. We figured the 489 passed the two specials at Big Horn.
After the three trains passed us, we hustled back to the four runner. In our adventures to get to that spot, we passed a spot with a big sweeping curve that had a good crowd gathered. It was basically where the road started to get significantly rougher. There was also a water truck there so we figured they would be stopping for water (but neither train did). We managed to make it back to that curve (36.990942, -106.217718) before the 168 / 425 train did and catch both historic trains there again.
We then went to an overlook where we could look down over Sublet and watched the 168 / 425 take water and the Eureka / Glenbrook patiently waited their turn (36.990288, -106.227933). We discussed our options and decided to make the long drive over to Osier and grab lunch there. All four of us brought snacks with us but a nice, warm meal at the railroad's cafeteria there would taste a lot better!
We then went to an overlook where we could look down over Sublet and watched the 168 / 425 take water and the Eureka / Glenbrook patiently waited their turn (36.990288, -106.227933). We discussed our options and decided to make the long drive over to Osier and grab lunch there. All four of us brought snacks with us but a nice, warm meal at the railroad's cafeteria there would taste a lot better!
We did manage to make it to Osier before the 489 with the normal passenger train did. For a nominal, cash price, we were able to eat and were enjoying our meal as the 489 was seen in the distance. We waited in Osier for the two Victorian trains to show up before heading to Los Pinos. We figured we would have to hustle to make it to Los Pinos before they did so we didn't see stay to see them take water in Osier. However, we were wrong and ended up waiting for a long time in Los Pinos for the two trains.
As we drove up to Los Pinos, we were amazing at how many people were there! We checked out a few spots, even got out of the car to scout around one of them. We eventually ended up walking down into a group of trees just upgrade from Los Pinos tank (37.038626, -106.409034). The trees provided much needed shade, as the sun was pretty warm that afternoon. It seemed like someone had setup a little wedding venue in the group of trees at one time, and that provided some logs for sitting as we waited. We ended up having just as good of spot for photographing the two trains as anyone and I figured we were probably the most comfortable while waiting in all of Los Pinos.
Three of the four locomotives crew changed at Los Pinos so that took a little time. Each engine also took water at Los Pinos tank. The 168 / 425 pulled up to the tank and got water. Then, unloaded and did a run by. The Eureka and Glenbrook then came up and took water and then themselves did a run by. As they were backing up in order to give the 168 / 425 a chance to back up and pick up the riders, we went ahead and left for Cumbres.
Cumbres as packed, as expected, but we were there in enough time to find a place to park and hike down to Tanglefoot curve (37.013524, -106.446189). We actually didn't have to wait too long for the 168 / 425 to show up down the valley. The 168 / 425 actually unloaded on the far side of the curve and did a run by there for the riders. That allowed those of us hiked in a chance to get that train from a few different vantage points.
Cumbres as packed, as expected, but we were there in enough time to find a place to park and hike down to Tanglefoot curve (37.013524, -106.446189). We actually didn't have to wait too long for the 168 / 425 to show up down the valley. The 168 / 425 actually unloaded on the far side of the curve and did a run by there for the riders. That allowed those of us hiked in a chance to get that train from a few different vantage points.
After the two trains passed us, we hiked back up to Cumbres. The Eureka / Glenbrook weren't up to the road crossing yet as they stopped by a drop bottom gondola to get a load of wood. Most of us lined up by the highway to get the two 1875 engines in great evening light. The 168 was cut off and parked on the tail of the wye, beyond the snow shed. There wasn't enough crews that could spare 'on the job time' to bring her down that evening. The 425 left with the passenger cars pretty quick after arriving.
The Eureka / Glenbrook spent a good while at the summit as they had to switch in two boxcars for additional breaking on their trip down. It was almost an hour after the 425 left, before the Eureka / Glenbrook were ready to leave. Another issue was that the Eureka's oil head light wouldn't light so the crew had to bring them down using flash lights from the cab.
The Eureka / Glenbrook spent a good while at the summit as they had to switch in two boxcars for additional breaking on their trip down. It was almost an hour after the 425 left, before the Eureka / Glenbrook were ready to leave. Another issue was that the Eureka's oil head light wouldn't light so the crew had to bring them down using flash lights from the cab.
We watched the Eureka / Glenbrook put together their longer train and then headed down to Chama ourselves. We left Cumbres at about 8:00pm as we wanted to make it down to Chama before the restaurants closed. I am not sure what time the Eureka / Glenbrook finally left but they didn't make it down to Chama until 9:30pm. We were able to get dinner at a place called The Local which does pizza and craft beer in Chama. We were all tired but we knew the night hostler that had been assigned to the 168 at Cumbres. So we got warmer clothes and headed back up to Cumbres to visit with him and take in the sights of the 168 simmering in the dark at 10,000 ft. He was using oil lamps for light that evening because why not? It was right at midnight by the time we made it back to Chama. What a day!
