Extra 498 west climbs out of Willow Creek heading toward the Continental Divide at Azotea and ultimately Durango. One of the oddities of the Alamosa to Durango line is even though it crossed 10,000 foot Cumbres pass east of Chama, the Continental divide was at a much lower elevation west of Chama, in relatively flat country.
The DRGW narrow gauge was the last major steam operation in the U.S. The climb over 10,000 foot Cumbres pass was spectacular, with two engines handling 70 car trains. Hopefully these images convey some of the drama of mountain steam railroading.
