Lake Lobato: The climb begins in earnest. The Cumbres & Toltec Rotary Outfit takes the turn at Lake Lobato as it emerges from The Narrows and digs into the 4% grade that culminates at Cumbres Pass. With the grade steepening and the snow depth increasing with altitude, the train begins to have some adhesion problems in this stretch, with intermittent bursts of loud stack-talk as the drivers on the two K-36 pusher locomotives slip on the snow-covered rails. The bottom lip on the rotary plow intake is still several inches above the railhead, and at least on this trip, the flanger blades on the rotary are not operating, so there is still a fair amount of snow being left behind. Fortunately, the sand domes on both engines are filled to their 500 lb. capacity and the Engineers are using them liberally to keep the train moving steadily forward.
The rotary outfit put together for this re-enactment of snowfighting on the Rio Grande was a pretty authentic-looking train. With the exception of the C&TS markings on the rotary and locomotives, most of the other details were from over half a century ago. Of course, the star of the show was the superheated Rotary OY, built in 1923 by the American Locomotive Works. Trailing behind is a old oil tank car (DRGW 0472), which was long ago re-purposed as an auxiliary water car for OY. The power for this trip was 2 K-36 Locomotives, #s 487 and 484, running without spark arrestors and with cab curtains installed. Behind the locomotives, the Cook Car (DRGW 053) and Section Bunk Car (DRGW 04258) provide living facilities for the crew, and the Caboose (DRGW 0306) provides an office as well as a place from which the Conductor can observe his train.
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are all that remains of the legendary Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge system. Here you'll find some of my favorites from these two beautiful railways.
