High Desert Wanderer. Just after sunrise, D&RG Consolidation #425 leads a mixed train west out of Antonito, CO, headed for Chama, NM and later, Durango, Colorado, pictured here passing MP 292.5, just west of Lava Tank
The locomotive depicted here is a C-18 Consolidation, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1895, and acquired second-hand by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1917 from the defunct Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad. For it's first few years with the D&RG, it was numbered 425, as seen here, but when the railroad later became the Denver & Rio Grand Western, she was renumbered 315, which is the way most narrow gauge enthusiasts know her today. In 2021, for the Victorian Iron Horse Round-up at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, the locomotive was back-dated to her 425 days, with a new pilot, headlamp and large, D&RG-style gold lettering. In this photos, she's depicted performing for a late-September Lerro Photography event, on the straight-away just west of Lava Tank, showing off the high desert landscape that exists on the east side of the line from Antonito to Chama.
Landscape photography is difficult due to the challenge of combining good light and good scenery. Good railroad photography enters another level of complexity since it requires the first two while there is a train in view.
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.
