Mark’s Photos- #35

Today’s photos were taken during a snowstorm on January 2nd 1982 in Chama, NM near the Colorado border. Since 1970, Chama has been home to the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, a narrow-gauge tourist line that runs between Chama and Antonito, CO. A distance of 64 miles. The track was orphaned by the Rio Grande Railroad in 1969. So, this vestige of the silver boom of the 1880s was purchased jointly, along with the rolling stock, by New Mexico and Colorado in 1970. The next year, summer tourist service started, and it’s been in operation ever since.

The Professor, Cappuccino, and I drove up to Chama from Albuquerque on New Year’s Day in 1982 to do some cross-country skiing. We checked into our cozy motel cabin just as a new snowstorm hit Chama. It was a pretty good storm, and it continued snowing on and off throughout the night. So when we got up the next morning, there were 5–6 inches of new snow, and it was still coming down. We strapped on our skis and headed out. After a couple of miles on the outskirts of town, we decided to head over to the rail yard and check out the trains. Although they were closed for the season, we figured most of the rolling stock would be parked outside. We worked our way east and then south, finally skiing across an old RxR bridge over the Rio Chama and into the train yard.

Once across, we worked our way toward what looked like a steam locomotive, as the snow picked up again in earnest. When we got closer, we saw it was indeed an engine. The snow continued to come down, and I got this shot of The Professor and Cappuccino taking off their skis to go take a closer look at Engine 482.