Friday, October 3, 2014
It was another early and frosty morning, and surprisingly I woke up at 5:45am, well before the alarm. It was again about 32 degrees outside and a thick layer of ice was all over the vehicles.
The group walked to the diner for breakfast about 6:45am before we headed to the train station. This trip involved us riding a bus to the other end of the line and riding the train back to Chama, and the bus left at 8:30am. While we getting ready to load onto the bus, a large group of deer came running through the parking lot of the railroad depot! They were beautiful and glistening in the sun. We arrived in Antonito, CO about 9:30am, took pictures of the train in the morning sun, and perused the gift shop. The train departed on time at 10am as we settled into the rear car on the train called the Parlor Car, which comes with our own attendant who served us complimentary fruit plates, muffins and refreshments, as well as a rear platform to stand on and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells you encounter riding behind a steam engine traversing the mountains in the cool morning air.
Riding the train is a treat, but the real excitement started when we encountered a large black bear near the tracks, a group of very large elk, lots of deer, and even a bald eagle soaring above us throughout the trip. Another thing we encountered flying above us was a large personal drone with cameras flying all around the train. I bet that guy got some amazing video!
About halfway into the trip, we arrived in Osher, which is a stop on the railroad literally in the middle of nowhere, where both trains meet from either end of the line, and lunch was served to all passengers of both trains, which is included in the price of the ticket. Passengers can choose either turkey and dressing with all the trimmings, or meatloaf and it's side dishes, and of course, dessert. It's amazing they can serve such delicious food to so many people at the same time, and in the middle of nowhere.
As we were getting ready to depart Osher, one of our group was invited to join the engine crew in the cab and help fire the locomotive for a little over an hour. Bob Krieger is retired from the Union Pacific Steam Crew, so he knew what he was doing, and everyone in our group was ecstatic that he got to do that, and we all knew he needed it. When he got off the engine and walked back into our private car he was grinning from ear to ear, and we all applauded. It was another special moment for our group today, but especially for Bob. We arrived in Chama around 4:30pm and headed for the motel with plans to meet for dinner at 6:30pm.
You may have noticed that it only took one hour to ride the bus from Chama to Antonito, but it took six and a half hours to get back by train. This is because motor vehicles can maneuver up and down steep mountain grades with ease, but trains cannot because of the heavy weights involved. To climb up a mountain, the train has to weave back and forth over and over again slowly gaining altitude, and then have to come down the other side of the mountain with the brakes on the entire time so the train won't run away. It's a tricky business, but this crew has done it a long time and do it very well.
6:30pm arrives and our group of 22 people walked across the street from the motel to a restaurant called High Country Steak House, and the food and service was amazing. I had the ribeye steak, which was cooked perfectly. We all waddled back to the motel for the night, and we said some goodbyes to some of the group leaving very early in the morning to head home to various areas of the country. I'm only driving to Santa Fe, which is about two hours south of here, so I plan on sleeping in as late as possible.
Although I try, It's hard to fully describe how all this feels if you're not here with us. With steam trains chugging through mountains ablaze with the changing colors of a winter quickly approaching, absolutely perfect weather, a group of friendly people, and the lucky sightings of wildlife all around us, our group felt very lucky to experience all of this on a most perfect day. Life is good.
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