Heron Lake State Park & Environs

I could have stayed in Silverton longer, but I needed to do some housekeeping. The disadvantage was that I'd need to reposition on a weekend. With that in mind, I made reservations at Heron Lake State Park. New Mexico State Parks are a good deal - $10 for dry sites, $14 with electric. The rate hasn't changed for at least five years. Turns out I didn't need the reservations...

I picked Heron Lake for its elevation, and then went hiking on the Rio Chama trail. It starts near the Heron Dam, down the stairs and then down the switchbacks to the river.

The suspension bridge crosses the Rio Chama. Looks like some of the suspension could use an adjustment to get it lined up again.

The hike through the small canyon was interesting for the trees, rocks, and the sound of the river. Unfortunately, the river was rarely seen.

I only got about 1.5 miles out when I decided that it would be best to return to my truck. The good news was that I beat the rain. The bad news is the truck REALLY needs a wash job.

Sunday afternoon I went wandering north out of Chama. Looks like the railroad is a good source for fence posts. They must have gotten a wonderful deal on barbed wire as well!

As I headed up the canyon towards the border, I spotted this classy sign for the Rancho Del Oso Pardo. It didn't really look like a cattle ranch. There's not much info about it, but it turns out, for about $1.2M you can buy a 3% share in the ranch that is operated as a private wildlife and fishing property.

The Forest Service road cuts through the beautiful property. The grass looked really good, and occasionally you'd spot the river down in the bottom. The fencing was unusual for a ranch - it was all modern "split rail" style wooden fence. Occasionally, you'd find a solar powered, code controlled gate with roads heading to the river or the hills.

More often, you'd see signs making it clear that you really weren't welcome to leave the roadway. It might be a FS road, but it was private, very exclusive, hunting and fishing range on either side of the road.

I loved this area of New Mexico, at least at this time of year. High enough to cool down in the evenings with daytime temps in the low 80s, and lots of interesting small towns and countryside to be explored.

I Had A Plan

Some years back, BJ and I stopped in Chama on our way to Heron Lake. As a result, I knew the Cumbres & Toltec was based here and was part of the reason to come back this way. Unfortunately, when I got to Chama this time, I discovered the memory card wasn't in my primary camera. As a result, these are all from the little camera or my cell phone. So much for careful planning.

This narrow gauge line once once part of the the same interconnected group as was the predecessor to the Durango & Silverton train. This portion of the lines and equipment was purchased by the States of New Mexico and Colorado to operate as a scenic train, unlike the Durango train that is privately owned and operated.

They had quite the line-up when I got there on Saturday, about an hour before departure. They run a single train from Chama, New Mexico to Antonito, Colorado and another train from Antonito to Chama each day during the season.

I was surprised to see that they had four engines fired on Saturday morning. Two were in front of the engine house, one headed the day's consist, and one was sitting 40 yards ahead of the consist. I wonder if the ones at the engine house were part of their Fireman and Engineer classes?

Most of the equipment was lettered for the Cumbres & Toltec, but one engine was lettered for the Denver & Rio Grande Western. If you were to volunteer as a docent, you'd need to know the history and why there are multiple names. Other volunteers just need to know how to run a paint brush.

One of the differences between this operation and the Durango train is that here they let you wander all over the yard while the equipment is operating. It wasn't long after I arrived that the 487 backed up and connected to the consist. Looks like it was going to be a double header this morning.

I came back Sunday morning with the regular camera, surprised to find that the day's consist had just a single engine this time. I attended the little Community Church across the street but never heard the train leave the station. I wonder if they have a "no whistles" agreement on Sunday mornings?

Back Shop

I left the Anvil Camping Area west of Silverton after seven days with a list of things to do on my way through Durango. By the time I left Durango, I had clean clothes, some fresh groceries, empty waste tanks, and I'd enjoyed a solo guided tour of the back shops at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway.

When the original roundhouse burned down in 1989, a new roundhouse was built using the same location and turntable.They added more bays, expressly to make space for a museum. The museum is free admission.

They had a couple engines on display in the museum. Some of the kids touring the museum were quick to let me know that you could sit in the engineer's seat.

The owner of the railroad has an old, restored private car that spends most of its time in the museum. It looked like it would have been right at home in CBS' Wild Wild West TV show in the late 60's.

I was especially enamored by the Durango Depot when I discovered it was built in the 1882 as a temporary building. Amazing how long some temporary buildings last.

There were only two engines in the roundhouse on Thursday afternoon. Another engine sat outside waiting for overhaul, while three engines were out on the line with trains coming back from Silverton.

One of the benefits of losing the original roundhouse when it burned in 1989 was that most of the machines in the machine shop were fairly new. They can install new "tires" on the wheels and true them up.

There were a lot of original box cars sitting on sidings. Most were being used for storage - when you operate a fleet of antiques you never throw anything away.

What caught my eye were the four cars near the depot that were being used for offices. If you order tickets by phone, the operators are housed in a couple box cars!

They had a couple Post Office cars. One was rebuilt and was used as a commissary car. This one is going to take a lot of work. The steel parts are salvageable, but almost all of the wood will have to be replaced.

At least it's complete enough that they'll be able to use the original wood for patterns.

I was surprised to see one motor car that they have used at times. It's powered by a diesel engine and gets used to place Hot Shot crews when there are fires near the tracks.

My favorite part was the Car Shop. They're in the process of rebuilding this passenger car. The wood sill plates are original to this railroad, but almost all of the rest of the wood is new.

The wooden parts of the interior are nearly completed. Lots of sanding and varnishing yet to come.

They had a nice woodshop and are capable of creating nearly all special millwork necessary to rebuild these 120 year old cars. Looked like lots of fun to me!

Back shop tours are $10 unless you've been on the train in the past month. Then they're $5 per person.

Home for the night was a dispersed camp in the Sauls Creek area of San Juan National Forest, just outside of Bayfield, Co.