Desert dawn on the D&RGW
A pair of ancient D&RGW, narrow gauge steam locomotives rumble across the little wooden trestle at Milepost 285.87 at sunrise, as they take a mixed freight westbound on the San Juan extension, heading for the yards at Chama, NM via Cumbres Pass.
This image was captured during an October 2024 photo shoot on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which featured a rather unique double-header on this particular day. Depicted here are the 1883-vintage T-12, 10-wheeler #168 (lettered as #167), running in tandem with K-27 Mikado #463. This combination is unusual, as the T-12s were designed for fast passenger service and would seldom be found on freights. By about 1930 however, the T-12s were getting pretty long in the tooth, and most of the D&RGW's premier passenger trains were by then being pulled by larger locomotives. Photographic evidence does show that in that timeframe, some of the remaining T-12s were occasionally used as helpers on freights. Of course, history also shows that just half a dozen years later, the T-12s were all retired.
Desert dawn on the D&RGW
A pair of ancient D&RGW, narrow gauge steam locomotives rumble across the little wooden trestle at Milepost 285.87 at sunrise, as they take a mixed freight westbound on the San Juan extension, heading for the yards at Chama, NM via Cumbres Pass.
This image was captured during an October 2024 photo shoot on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which featured a rather unique double-header on this particular day. Depicted here are the 1883-vintage T-12, 10-wheeler #168 (lettered as #167), running in tandem with K-27 Mikado #463. This combination is unusual, as the T-12s were designed for fast passenger service and would seldom be found on freights. By about 1930 however, the T-12s were getting pretty long in the tooth, and most of the D&RGW's premier passenger trains were by then being pulled by larger locomotives. Photographic evidence does show that in that timeframe, some of the remaining T-12s were occasionally used as helpers on freights. Of course, history also shows that just half a dozen years later, the T-12s were all retired.