Following a flanger spreader train that will help clear the new snow over Cumbres, the 480 leads the regular doubleheaded Monday freight west past the Alamosa yard limits.

It is late afternoon and the shadows are getting long as the 484 with its helper cut in ahead of the caboose pulls a Cumbres turn into the small yard at the top. It is the crew's second trip up t... (more)

The 488 with a Cumbres turn really smokes it up as it climbs the final 4 percent around Windy Point to the pass. As was normal practice, a helper is cut in ahead of the caboose in the distance. ... (more)

The temps are way below freezing during the night, steam engines tend to drip, ice forms, and the result by early morning is an engine solidly frozen to the rails. So the hostler burns some oil s... (more)

The crew of a Chama to Durango train gets ready for departure. This is the next to last year of operation of the narrow gauge by the DRGW.

A westbound freight starts its long slow climb to 10,000-foot Cumbres pass on a cold December day. This train had been preceeded by a flanger and spreader train to clear the way.

Another old Anscochrome saved by Photoshop. The headbrakeman takes water prior to the Farmington turn leaving Farmington for Durango. The Farmington tank was notorious for bad water, but apparent... (more)

The 473 switches an inbound train at the east end of the Durango yard. The boxcars were probably empties that would be spotted at the lumber mill for loading. Note the 473 is equipped with footb... (more)

It's late in the season and winter is getting close. When this picture was taken the mainline to Alamosa had been abandoned and the Silverton branch was isolated. But it was still Rio Grande and ... (more)

A late afternoon Cumbres turn crosses the old unpaved road below Windy Point.

An eastbound freight has departed Carbon Junction for Chama. The grade east from Carbon Junction was a steady 2 percent for about seven miles to the top of the mesa just west of Falfa.

The winter sun silouettes the sanding and coaling towers on the Durango roundhouse lead.

Durango had a classic small railroad terminal. Then the Colorado highway department decided they needed the industrial area in the background and the yard area in the foreground for new highway c... (more)

Close up the counterweight and running gear on one of the 470 class locomotives used on the Silverton.

An afternoon Cumbres turn with 483 on the point blows for the Coxo crossing on the old dirt road from Chama to Cumbres. A helper is cut in ahead of the caboose.