Thursday, we left Alamosa for a fairly short and beautiful drive to Chama, New Mexico. We have been coming to this area off and on for probably 50 years. Not only is it cooler here (almost 7900 ft altitude), but there is a tourist train pulled by old steam engines. Steam trains, and even diesel trains, are something we have been interested in all of our married lives.
We saw pine and fir trees, as well as aspen.
In places, we saw lots of wild flowers.
Then, we saw something exciting in the distance! Look carefully at the center left hand side of the photo. Smoke!
As we approached the top of the pass, we saw the daily Cumbres and Toltec train. We couldn't have timed it better if we had tried.
After the train stopped long enough for the passengers to take a few photos, it was off to it's lunch stop at Osier,
The steam train is always followed by this small car--called a speeder--that checks to see that no fires start up in the wake of the train spewing smoke and cinders.
That was lucky. I tried to catch the train during the fall foliage. Never saw it. 😄
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