Cumbres Pass, early 1900's: a double-headed freight near Toltec. (F. Jukes)
Excerpt from "New Mexico Railroads, An Historial Survey" by David F. Myrick ©1970
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, an outgrowth of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway of 1870, is a vital part of one of the Central Transcontinental Routes across the country. Locally it serves Colorado and Utah; that it also served a portion of New Mexico is a fact lost on most people other than those living along this line or those aficionados specializing in narrow gauge lore. Though the mileage operated in New Mexico in recent times measured only 99 miles, in earlier days the lines operated by the Rio Grande and its affiliates totaled 290 miles and, if the partly constructed lines in that State were included as well, the total might well approach 400 miles.
Though other major railroads have some narrow gauge fines in their New Mexico history, the Rio Grande is the only one that has always been narrow gauge, with the one exception of the Farmington branch which at different times existed in both gauges. The nearest D&RGW trackage to New Mexico today is the Alamosa-Antonito branch.
New Mexico had long been part of the Rio Grande plan for development for it would have been traversed in the course to Mexico. Losing out at Raton Pass in February 1878 brought about a change in plans and the D&RG decided to try another track. Previous to the hassle at Raton Pass, it had built westward to Walsenburg in Southern Colorado and continued over La Veta Pass (el. 9,242'), across the San Luis Valley and arrived at Alamosa on the Rio Grande in June 1878. Meanwhile the I)&RG was having its troubles under Santa Fe control which was finally terminated in court action in 1879. That year marked the beginning of two major branches, one going to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the other to Durango, Colorado. The 29 miles from Alamosa to Antonito were graded in the fall of 1879 and the following February track laying began. Good progress was made on the line then destined to Albuquerque, though not as fast as anticipated as there was more solid rock to be blasted than had been expected.
The AT&SF and the D&RG decided to bury the hatchet and an agreement signed on March 27, 1880 limited the areas of future construction for both parties for the ensuing ten years. Under the terms of the contract, all D&RG work south of Espanola was discontinued, thus virtually abandoning some $60,000 worth of grading in White Rock Canon of the Rio Grande and at Isleta Crossing. The line to Espanola was opened for traffic on December 31, 1880, leaving a gap of about 35 miles to reach Santa Fe.
The restrictive agreement, being public knowledge, invited others to link the Territorial capital with the D&RG. For this purpose a group organized the Texas, Santa Fe and Northern Railroad in December 1880. The following October, a prospectus in the form of a cheery letter addressed "To Investors" outlined the plans and prospective profits of the venture. Although the ultimate railroad was to extend from Santa Fe northwest to a connection with the Central Pacific in Utah on one hand and to some points on both the T&P and GH&SA (SP) in Texas on the other hand - in all totaling 1,258 miles - immediate plans were much more realistic.
Initially 37 miles of railroad was to be built between Santa Fe and Espanola (the distance differs according to source) which would constitute the San Juan Division. Estimated annual revenues, based on 30 passengers each way and a daily movement of five cars inbound and two cars outbound of freight would provide $132,000. After all expenses and interest, $30,000 was to be left for the stockholders.
The second section of 38 miles was to go southeasterly from Santa Fe to Golden in the New Placers Mining District but only 25 miles were to be built at this time to tap the anthracite coal fields near Cerrillos.
Work was underway the following year on this San Juan Division, grading was completed and much of the bridge work had been done before financial problems arose and everything came to a standstill.
The difficulties continued for several years and the prospects of taking the narrow gauge from Santa Fe to Denver, or any other place for that matter, appeared hopeless. Then early in 1886, General L. M. Meily appeared on the scene to bring some order out of the financial chaos. With a new face at the helm, the citizens of Santa Fe took on renewed hopes and looked forward to riding the TSF&N. In August 1886, a commissary for the workers was reestablished as part of the preparations for resumption of work. Ties were soon hauled to the grade and, with Martin Foody (later superintendent) in charge of the 60 graders repairing the old roadbed, real progress was evident. The first rails were laid at Santa Fe on October 21 and late Saturday night, January 8, 1888,. General Meily drove the last spike at Espanola in four steadv blows before a crowd of some 300 people. On Sunday the first passenger train carried 200 happy excursionists westward from Santa Fe, then along the White Rock Canon to the end of this line at Espanola where dinner was served at the railroad hotel.
Title to the property was transferred to The Santa Fe Southern Railway in 1889 and in turn, after litigation, was conveyed to The Rio Grande and Santa Fe Railroad in 1895 to become part of the D&RG.
Operations of the "Chili Line" as it was called (attributed to the dietary habits of its clientele) were casual. One left Denver on the overnight standard gauge Pullman to Alamosa where transfer was made to the narrow gauge coaches of the mixed train to arrive in Santa Fe's "Union Station" late in the afternoon.
For the engine crew, the run had to be made with cautious appreciation of the grades. There was a steady upward 1% grade from Alamosa to Volcano (el. 8,487') where it reversed as the line went down slowly to Barranca. At this point entry was made into the canyon of the Rio Grande by a steep 4% grade with curves up to 22' for almost six miles. At the bottom of the grade was Embudo; at various times in the past it was a scheduled meal stop. Along the river the railroad followed a much less difficult course until it came to Buckman, 20 miles from Santa Fe, at which point the long climb (2%) out of the valley began, continuing to a crest near Santa Fe.
Branches along the line were few and far between. Between 1888 and 1892 a short branch was operated running west from two successive junctions near Tres Piedras, both confusionly called Stewart Jct. Each about two miles long, the fines were built to serve the Stewart Lumber Co.
Previously the D&RG had located a line in 1881 for 50 miles from a point probably near Chamita (near Espanola) in a northwesterly route along Chama River. Forty miles of grade were completed and ready for track laying when work was halted. Had this line been pushed on, it would have met the lumber lines running south from the Durango line.
In the spring of 1915, a large sign bearing the name "Taos Jct." appeared in place of "Caliente," which had been named for Ojo Caliente, the hot springs and town about a dozen miles to the southwest. A further change took place in the fall of 1915 when a new depot was constructed to replace the former box car used for station purposes.
Taos itself, famous for its multi-story pueblo, had been the objective of many railroad proposals, among them the Denver and Rio Grande which had done some grading in 1880 in an effort to include the old village on the main fine to Espanola. Further surveys proved that such a route would have been impractical and Taos Jct., 20 miles to the west, was the closest that the D&RG came to Taos. Taos Jct. was indeed a junction but the branch went west and north to La Madera. Built in 1914 to serve the Hallack & Howard Lumber Co.'s mill at La Madera, this 16-mi D&RG branch became a candidate for abandonment after 1927 when lumbering ceased. It was the declining traffic and particularly the washouts of the summer of 1930 that brought the matter to a head. Though the D&RG offered the line to anyone interested in continuing its operation, no one came forward and the tracks were removed in 1932.
The Santa Fe branch continued in operation until 1941 when, after the usual I.C.C. hearings, abandonment was authorized. Local Protestants expressed their objections to their representatives in Congress and for a while there was a flare of national publicity but this soon quieted to permit dismantling to move ahead and all the tracks were removed in 1942.
While the Santa Fe branch was under construction, the mining excitement in the San Juan Basin of southwestern Colorado prompted the D&RG to push construction on another line, this one to go to Durango and Silverton, 216 miles from Antonito (245 miles from Alamosa). The initial 64 miles from Antonito to Chama were challenges to the surveyors and builders and later to the operating and maintenance men. To cross Cumbres Pass (el. 10,015') a moderate 1.42% grade was laid out for the ascent from Antonio but, in the reverse direction, a 4% grade from Chama for 14 miles was necessary.
Crossing the Colorado-New Mexico line a number of times and passing through two tunnels, the railroad reached Chama, New Mexico, at the end of 1880 and service began to this point February 1, 1881. The narrow gauge continued in New Mexico for some 47 miles, crossing the Continental Divide, passing Monero and the coal mines, Lumberton and Dulce to re-enter Colorado,' crossing the state line for the twelfth time. Following the San Juan River for some distance, passing Pagosa Jct. (Gato), the @ad went over a divide to the watershed of Las Animas River to Durango whose citizens greeted the first locomotive on July 27, 1881. The remaining 45 miles to Silverton were finished almost a year later as the usual winter snow caused suspension of work for several months.
Crossing Cumbres Pass, skirting along the cliffs of Toltec Gorge high above Rio Los Pinos, made this one of the most spectacular trips on western railroads. Trains made regular stops at Toltec, New Mexico, to permit passengers to gaze into the chasm and to look with wonder at Eva Cliff, a thin and ragged pinnacle which some of the more adventurous men would climb to be rewarded by a splendid view. It was at this point that the member of the National Association of General Passenger and Ticket Agents 104 held services on September 26, 1881 for President James A. Garfield who had died the week before. A stone monument marks the spot of these services.
The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, long advertising itself as the "Scenic Line of the World" went on to promote an "Around the Circle Tour" which incorporated various segment.-, of the D&RG, including the Alamosa-Durango line as well as the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. Starting out from Denver in either direction, one took the night sleeper to Alamosa or Montrose and transferred to narrow gauge coaches the next day. Stopping at hotels in both Durango and Telluride, the trip was completed by spending the fourth night in a Pullman to return to Denver early the following morning.
A delightful narrow gauge passenger train, in more recent history titled the San Juan, complete with a parlor observation car, ran between Durango and Alamosa for many years. Unfortunately, even the summer patronage was light in the later years and the train made its last trip early in 1951.
There were a number of branch lines and connecting spurs, principally inspired by the lumber trade, spinning off at various points along the Alamosa-Durango trackage. Most important was the Farmington branch, extending 47 miles south from Carbon Jct. (2.4 miles east of Durango) along the Animas River into New Mexico to Aztec and ending at Farmington, the center of an agricultural area known for its deciduous fruit.
There was an element of defense of its territory in the selection of the gauge for this branch; standard gauge was chosen @hen it was constructed in 1905. The Southern Pacific and, to a lesser extent, the EP&SW, were contemplating railroads into this area about this time. SP had surveyors working up and down the valleys to fink the coal fields around Durango with Arizona and filed incorporation papers for several lines including "The Arizona and Colorado Railroad Company of New Mexico" in October 1904.
A third rail from Carbon Jct. permitted access of the standard gauge rolling stock into the Durango yards, a situation which prevailed for many years. Whether the wider gauge of the Farmington branch was the controlling reason that the A&C R.R. was not built is highly speculative but, from the Rio Grande viewpoint, the important thing was that it was not built. With the threat of a rival removed, the gauge of this branch was changed in 1923 to conform with the neighboring narrow gauge.
Little by little the narrow gauge lines of the Rio Grande were widened, if traffic potential warranted, or abandoned so that with the widening of the Monarch branch in 1956, the only remaining narrow lines were the 264 miles of railroad west of Antonito, extending to Durango, Silverton and Farmington. (There was also 29 miles of third rail operation between Alamosa and Antonito.)
In September 1967, the D&RGW filed a petition with the ICC seeking to abandon the entire narrow gauge line from Antonito to Durango and Farmington. (The Silverton branch remains undisturbed.) Hearings were conducted by an ICC examiner along the affected segment of the railroad around the end of April 1968. The examiner recommended that abandonment be authorized, a view not acceptable to the many individuals whose interest in the narrow gauge transcends economic reality. The Commission concurred in the recommended abandonment during July 1969. That there were reasons to support the continuation of this line was evidenced by various alternate proposals, including the adoption of the remaining narrow gauge as a National Historic Site. As of this writing, the States of Colorado and New Mexico had joined in a compact to "save" the portion of the line from Antonito to Chama, over Cumbres Pass, and operate it as a tourist attraction.
