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Welcome to
"Chama To Pagosa Springs In On3"
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| It's late afternoon in October of 1937. The leaves are beginning to fall and there's a damp crispness in the air. It's four o'clock in the afternoon as a freight arrives in Chama, dropping off empty gons, and drifting through the yard to fill up with water and coal preparing for the next run down to Pagosa Springs.
Signs of the Great Depression are everywhere - in the lack of maintenance of equipment and in the deterioration of structures. But a glimmer of pride still radiates here and there where a piece of equipment is somehow being maintained despite the lack of funds. Sometimes in the past, the shop foreman stashes away several gallons of green paint. In an effort to maintain some of the traditions of years gone by, he has used it sparingly on locomotives #478, #487 and #494 giving them at least a semblance of the bright appearance they had in the days when the entire Denver & Rio Grande western engine roster shone in green boiler jackets. Other locomotives such as the K-27 "Mudhens" and C class Consolidations are painted black, and are showing signs of wear and weather.
The Chama yard is still full of equipment being shifted around. Maintenance-of-way equipment isbeing readied for the winter ahead. Trains of stockcars are moving cattle from Chama down intothe lower areas around Pagosa Springs. Long trains of highside gondolas are preparing to carry limestone to the mills before the winter sets in. Coal laden drop-bottom gons come and go keeping the coaling tower full.
In 1937 people travelling through the area still rely heavily on the railroads passenger trains. There is no better or quicker way to move about the rugged country on business, or to visit friends and relatives in Pagosa Springs. The railroad shows its support of these customers by maintaining its passenger cars in pristine condition, and trying to make the pasengers as compfortable as possible. In fact, the SAN JUAN, pulled by #478 has already begun to attract the attention of the first railfans. |
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Click HERE to view the last layout plan.
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The trip from Chama to Pagosa Springs is wonderful. The views from both high and low trestles are breathtaking, and passengers are often startled by the sudden darkness as the train sweeps into tunnels - Mud Tunnel especially brings a gasp of surprise from startled travelers who have not been this way before. The traveler passes from one geological region and climatic area to another on this journey - one minute you are high, rounding an arid dry rock bluff; the next you are rolling along just above the waterline along a river. And soon, you are steaming through stands of aspens and pines.
When the last train enters the yard at Pagosa Springs, passengers detrain at the depot. The yard is small with a water tower and hand-coaling facility. The single stall engine house has a well equipped backshop with all the machinery neede to keep the railroad's equipment in repair. Passengers who stroll into town find it is small but apparently growing. There are a surprising number of small businesses including a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a grocery store. Even so, cars chug along a dirt-paved Main Street that has wooden sidewalks. At the end of Main Street, next to the engine facility are the pool hall and rather decrepit bordello - a favorite meeting place for train crews at the end of a long, hard, dry day's run. One can have a bath there, a bite to eat next door and pleasant company until the next run back to Chama. The proprietress, Susie, is a charming woman in her mid-thirties, whose warmth and good humour keep the men coming back even though the building appears to be falling down. Susie has even charmed some of the men into promising to repair the building when better days return. |
Courtesy of: Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette
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