Riding the Train to LaVeta

Monday we rode the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad out of Alamosa to LaVeta and over LaVeta pass.  We have been on this train several times in the past and always enjoy it.

We had first class tickets in a dome car so we had a good view of the surrounding area.

It may be September but we didn't see fall colors of yellow, orange and red.  Everything was black and white.  Last summer the Spring Creek Fire, which started near Fort Garland, burned over 100,000 acres between June 27 and September 10.  The scenery along our train route was mainly black and white.

There were distant views of the nearby mountain ranges.

But mainly, we saw the contrast of black and white in the burned-out forest.  The patterns were so sad, but also beautiful in their own right.

Just look at all these dead trees! So Sad

It is amazing where trees can grow.

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There were numerous overturned grain cars along the route.  There have been several derailments on this stretch and often the cars are just pushed off the track and down the slope from the track.  Crews come in and salvage what parts they can.

More contrasts of black and white.

There were two stops for photo shoots.  Everyone who wanted to take pictures got off the train, which then backed up before driving by so we could take pictures.

One of the cars on the train was the owners' car.  It was at the rear of the train going up to LaVeta.  It gave us a view of what private rail cars were like during the last century.

We saw glass insulators on old electric poles.

This is the train station in LaVeta.  You can see we were190 miles, by rail, from  Denver.

We had one meal on the train, eggs benedict.  While we explored LaVeta, we bought sandwiches at the deli counter in Charlies, the LaVeta grocery store.  We ate them near the end of the trip serving as our dinner.

We have one more train ride scheduled this week, on the Cumbres and Toltec out of Chama, New Mexico.  Can you tell we are train buffs?  On Monday's trip we took nearly 200 photos during the day.  Wonder how many we will take on Thursday?

Trains, Trains, Trains

Staying at Railside RV Ranch in Williams is great for train buffs. Not only does the Grand Canyon train pass by twice each day, there are also extra train cars stored nearby and the wye, where trains are turned around, is used each evening to turn the Grand Canyon Train around for the coming day.

These are shots of the train cars stored next to the RV park.



We didn't take pictures of the train on the wye, but this shows the train we saw each evening.



To top off these train sightings, one afternoon the steam engine that is used occasionally to pull the Grand Canyon Train was run up and down track next to the park. The shops where train cars are worked on is located just a little distance down the track. The Grand Canyon Trail is very proud of its green steam engine, which is fired by used cooking oil. We don't know what they were doing with the engine that day but several people were on top and they ran the engine up and down the track several times.



It is also possible to view BNSF freight trains on another track several blocks away. Obviously, this is a great place for train buffs.