Steamscape: Lobato Trestle
On a chilly October morning, Denver & Rio Grande Western Locomotive #489 takes a short, mixed freight eastbound across the 310-foot-long Lobato Trestle over Wolf Creek at Milepost 339.75, just outside Chama, NM. The train is climbing the steady, 4% grade on the 13-mile journey from Chama to the summit of the 10,000 ft. high Cumbres Pass.
This image was captured during an October 2024 photo shoot on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, organized by Lerro Photography. The engine featured on this particular day was the 1925-vintage Baldwin K-36 Mikado, #489. Built as a coal-burner, this locomotive was converted to oil-firing in 2021 as a precaution, due to the wildfire risk in Colorado and New Mexico in recent years.
The trestle, pictured here, towers 100 ft. above the little stream called Wolf Creek and was placed here in 1883. For many years, charters stopped here, on either side of the bridge, to allow photographers to photograph the trains. In recent years however, the landowners have prohibited the railroad from putting passengers on the ground, making this location all but impossible to photograph, except through the use of drones.
Steamscape: Lobato Trestle
On a chilly October morning, Denver & Rio Grande Western Locomotive #489 takes a short, mixed freight eastbound across the 310-foot-long Lobato Trestle over Wolf Creek at Milepost 339.75, just outside Chama, NM. The train is climbing the steady, 4% grade on the 13-mile journey from Chama to the summit of the 10,000 ft. high Cumbres Pass.
This image was captured during an October 2024 photo shoot on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, organized by Lerro Photography. The engine featured on this particular day was the 1925-vintage Baldwin K-36 Mikado, #489. Built as a coal-burner, this locomotive was converted to oil-firing in 2021 as a precaution, due to the wildfire risk in Colorado and New Mexico in recent years.
The trestle, pictured here, towers 100 ft. above the little stream called Wolf Creek and was placed here in 1883. For many years, charters stopped here, on either side of the bridge, to allow photographers to photograph the trains. In recent years however, the landowners have prohibited the railroad from putting passengers on the ground, making this location all but impossible to photograph, except through the use of drones.