My last year and a half

Leaving Texas, we drove up the Capulin volcano which was pretty amazing.  This we drove into Colorado where we stopped in Trinidad and saw the C&S 2-8-0. A pretty bad storm is in the distance, so we didn't stay long. 

Our next stop on the trip was a ride on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad. We took the bus from Antonito to Chama and then road the train back to Antonito.  I never thought of my self as a narrow gauge fan before this trip, but the experience on the C&T was amazing.

After the trip, I walked around the yard at Antonito.

EAL posted:

 I never thought of my self as a narrow gauge fan before this trip, but the experience on the C&T was amazing.

 

I came away with the same feeling after I rode the C&TS back in the 70's.  I read in one of my books: "Once narrow gauge gets in the blood, it will not out."

The author was right.

Rusty

The next day we chased the train from Chama and then went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  A really busy day, but chasing the train was not very hard given its slow speed and there were a number of easy spots for photos.  Before chasing, I had some time to walk around the yard. 

Then the chase was on. 

More from the chase.

After leaving Alamosa, we traveled to Puelblo and spent the night. The next day we went to Canon City to visit the gorge. This meant three more locomotives, a ATSF 4-8-4 in Pueblo and D&RGW 2-8-2 and a Westside Lumber Shay in Canon City. 

great trip and photos, thanks for posting, more to come?

Very well done,  thanks for sharing the photos and providing the background story on the trip.   

After leaving Canon City, we traveled to see the Garden of the Gods and then up to Denver. After spending a day at Rocky Mountain National Park, we spent the next morning at the Colorado Railroad Museum. 

More from the Colorado Railroad Museum. 

Steam is steam, no matter what the gauge!  I love steam just as much as I love diesels, no matter what the gauge!  

On our final day in the Denver area, we headed out to the Georgetown Loop. We did not ride, as they were sold out. That evening, we went to the Forney Museum. 

The Forney museum. 

Leaving Colorado, we headed through Kansas and saw the monument rocks finally arriving in Topeka to spend the night. In the morning, we quickly stopped and saw the sad looking ATSF 4-6-4. 

From Topeka, we traveled to St. Louis with enough time for a visit to the MOT before heading to the hotel. This would be the last steam until the fall. 

We left on our trip to Colorado in late June of 2018 and returned home right before July 4th. Here are a few more from the Cumbres and Toltec.

I thought that I was done with train adventures after the amazing trip to Colorado. However, 611 was in Spencer in September and I decided to take a jump seat ride.  It was really cool experience! While I could not take pictures during the ride, I got plenty of shots of 611 pulling the museum train. 

A few weeks later, the Southeastern Railway Museum hosted Jeddo Coal #85. The museum is only about 30 minutes from my house, so I paid a visit. The little engine had to work a bit to get up the hill! I really like this museum, but I am bit saddened that 290 has been off exhibit for over 20 years. 

Shown below are the 3 long-distance trains I traveled on this past year, The Silver Meteor, The Crescent, and the Sunset Limited. Back in the old days, you could tell one from another. 

Shown below are the 3 long-distance trains I traveled on this past year, The Silver Meteor, The Crescent, and the Sunset Limited. Back in the old days, you could tell one from another. 

The "old days", same trains.

With the news of the Big Boy restoration and then the announced trip in May 2019, my brother and I decided to chase it from Cheyenne to Ogden. I had never been to Wyoming or Utah, so this was also a great chance to visit these two states. We flew out from Atlanta to Denver and drove up to Cheyenne on May 3rd. Catching an early flight and the time zones allowed us to see the the Big Boy 4004 along with UP 4-6-0 1242 and UP 2-8-0 535 in Laramie. 

On Saturday, May 4th, our chase started. The first location was at Harriman and it was a zoo. We didn't stay long and worked on trying to find a good next location.

We quickly left Harriman to search for our next location. At this location, I almost got into an argument with a lady who was literally standing right next to the tracks. After I gave a up, a UP truck came by and told her to step back. Which she did until they were out of sight. 

The next place we waited with a group of railfans, was one of the better location. While waiting a freight went by, which was pretty cool too. 

Our last location on May 4th was the bridge over the Green River. It was getting late so the light was not the best. The train was also delayed a bit as well. 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! 

We spent the night in Rawlins and the next morning took some quick photos of UP 2-8-0 533 in Rawlins.

On My 5th, we chased the train to Rock Springs. The first location was up a hill looking down with a number of other railfans. 

The chase continued to Rock Springs as we were able to get ahead of the train. 

Super trip and great photos EAL.

I just found this thread and started to "like" each post as I saw it. Then I said to myself "Self, why not just like the whole thread?" so that is what I did.

I've been to a lot of train museums, etc in the US, Europe and Asia over the last 30 years or so, but never all on one trip like this. What a wonderful idea!

As we were waiting for the train, we befriended a very nice local who told us to follow him to Wamsutter where the train was going to stop for water. My brother followed the local at what seemed like pretty high speed on gravel roads. This allowed us to catch the train coming into Wamsutter. 

From Wamsutter, we drove to find one more location to catch it. On the way I was also able to take some picture as we caught up to and pass the train. Please note, we did not pace the train.

We spent the afternoon of May 5th at Flaming Gorge park in Wyoming/Utah.  This is really an outstanding Park! 

May 6th and 7th were spent fossil hunting, going to a wildlife preserve, and checking out the roundhouse and UP 0-6-0 in Evanston. 

On May 8th we chased the train from Evanston to Ogden. To be honest, this was really when the crowds got a little crazy. 

we also spent a little time at the Ogden station and then went to the hotel, not staying around for the larger crowds. 

After the great trip to chase the Big Boy, I though the rest of 2019 would be pretty quiet. However, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum announced that for their founders day celebration on September 7th, they would be double heading 630 and 4501 all day.  I headed up in the morning with the goal to get some shots of them crossing the river.