Water stop: Los Pinos Tank. After stopping to fill their respective tender cisterns, D&RG Locomotives #168 and 425 pull away from the Los Pinos Tank (MP 325.5) and begin climbing the last 5 miles and 300 vertical feet to Cumbres Pass.
On the westbound run to Cumbres Pass, the Los Pinos Tank is encountered just after the train rounds the hairpin curve at the north end of the Los Pinos Valley. Back in the first half of the 20th century, this location was home to more than just a water tank. There was a Section House, Bunk House and Coaling Station here as well. These facilities supported track maintenance and provided fuel and water for rotary snow plow outfits which worked this area extensively in the winter months. Most of these facilities disappeared by 1940 and today, the tank is all that remains. The Los Pinos Tank is fully operational today on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, and not only services special trains and smaller locomotives, such as those seen here, but even the line's K-36 powered tourist trains stop here frequently.
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.
