Day 4 - Saturday 6/3/2017 - DRGW 315 Work Photo Freight Antonito to Cumbres
With a 6:00am departure from Antonito, wanting to be there by 5:30 or so and a good hour drive over a 10,000ft mountain pass, we decided to wake at 4:15am. This wasn’t that bad as it was 5:15am central time. We were in the car and rolling a little before 4:30am (local time) and did not every see a single deer on the drive over to Antonito! We got there just as dawn started to approach and were greeted by the 315 with our little train on the back part of the loop track and 487 simmering by the shops. We went over to the small group that was watching the crew get the 1895 built engine ready for the day. As the light grew, so did the crowd.
The 315 was sporting the flying Rio Grande herald for the first time since its restoration (I think) and looked sharp! Our train was at its limit of 45 people. It consisted of 3 high side gons, two high side gons that were rider gons (though one was a 6200 series flat car with sides on it, not a true high side gon), a box car that held restrooms and a snack bar and caboose 05635. Though, I wish the train was more varied, it made a nice looking work train which is what the 315 would of have been assigned to on the high iron the later (flying Rio Grande herald) years of her life.
We did some nice early morning run bys in the high desert outside of Antonito. We wye’d in Big Horn and backed west of there to do a run by facing east before heading back to Big Horn to again, wye and meet the daily passenger train heading out of Antonito headed by 487. We hit some lesser known stops as well as favorites like rock tunnel. We pulled into Osier for lunch right when the two passenger trains were about to depart (463 was on the east bound passenger). We did a few more run bys on the way to Cumbres in the beautify Los Pinos valley.
Once we got to Cumbres, we were supposed to meet up with Dennis Tebo and his traveling companion Richard. Dennis and Richard drove into Chama from California but didn’t have tickets for Saturday. I had put a post on narrow gauge discussion forum if anyone staying in Chama (most stayed in Antonito or Alamosa to save the early morning mountain drive) wanted to do a car pool. The plan was, for them to drive us back to Chama and then back up to Cumbres Sunday morning while we drove them from Antonito back to their car at Cumbres. This would save all 4 of us from another early departure Sunday morning to get to Antonito by time to catch the bus. Well Dennis and Richard were not there. Luckily Roger Hogan, the owner of the hotel we were staying at, was. Since Dennis and Richard were staying there too, we took a risk and hitched a ride with Roger down the mountain and got back to Chama about 4:30, calling and texting Dennis the entire way. After a nervous 2 hours wondering if Roger would be willing to take Blake and I back to Cumbres the next morning and if Dennis and Richard disappeared, they called us from Cumbres. They were waiting at Los Pinos for the train like Blake and I did the day before, not knowing it had already gone by there. They met us for dinner at the Boxcar Café.
We all went to Cumbres later that evening for some night shots of the 315 using Dennis’s two speed lights. It was a surreal experience being up at Cumbres with the legendary engine and just the four of us. We setup out tripod and experimented with the two speed lights, flashing different parts of the simmering engine. We got back down to Chama, seeing several deer on the way, a little after 10:15 and quickly checked in for the night.
The 315 was sporting the flying Rio Grande herald for the first time since its restoration (I think) and looked sharp! Our train was at its limit of 45 people. It consisted of 3 high side gons, two high side gons that were rider gons (though one was a 6200 series flat car with sides on it, not a true high side gon), a box car that held restrooms and a snack bar and caboose 05635. Though, I wish the train was more varied, it made a nice looking work train which is what the 315 would of have been assigned to on the high iron the later (flying Rio Grande herald) years of her life.
We did some nice early morning run bys in the high desert outside of Antonito. We wye’d in Big Horn and backed west of there to do a run by facing east before heading back to Big Horn to again, wye and meet the daily passenger train heading out of Antonito headed by 487. We hit some lesser known stops as well as favorites like rock tunnel. We pulled into Osier for lunch right when the two passenger trains were about to depart (463 was on the east bound passenger). We did a few more run bys on the way to Cumbres in the beautify Los Pinos valley.
Once we got to Cumbres, we were supposed to meet up with Dennis Tebo and his traveling companion Richard. Dennis and Richard drove into Chama from California but didn’t have tickets for Saturday. I had put a post on narrow gauge discussion forum if anyone staying in Chama (most stayed in Antonito or Alamosa to save the early morning mountain drive) wanted to do a car pool. The plan was, for them to drive us back to Chama and then back up to Cumbres Sunday morning while we drove them from Antonito back to their car at Cumbres. This would save all 4 of us from another early departure Sunday morning to get to Antonito by time to catch the bus. Well Dennis and Richard were not there. Luckily Roger Hogan, the owner of the hotel we were staying at, was. Since Dennis and Richard were staying there too, we took a risk and hitched a ride with Roger down the mountain and got back to Chama about 4:30, calling and texting Dennis the entire way. After a nervous 2 hours wondering if Roger would be willing to take Blake and I back to Cumbres the next morning and if Dennis and Richard disappeared, they called us from Cumbres. They were waiting at Los Pinos for the train like Blake and I did the day before, not knowing it had already gone by there. They met us for dinner at the Boxcar Café.
We all went to Cumbres later that evening for some night shots of the 315 using Dennis’s two speed lights. It was a surreal experience being up at Cumbres with the legendary engine and just the four of us. We setup out tripod and experimented with the two speed lights, flashing different parts of the simmering engine. We got back down to Chama, seeing several deer on the way, a little after 10:15 and quickly checked in for the night.
