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Our train later returned to take us back to Alamosa and then south to Antonito. We all reboarded the train and we headed westbound.
Deers running away from our train as we ran by.
A look out the back of our train.
ILSX 1390 at La Veta.
Goemmers Butte. I went back inside the SL&RG 4060, sat on the bench after getting a 7 UP and socialized with my other passengers as the train climbed back up to Fir/La Veta Pass.
Later we arrived at Fir/La Veta Pass.
An ex Box Car serves as a storage unit at Fir.
Our train then crested the grade at Fir.
A few minutes later it took the loop below Fir. I returned to conversations as we dropped down the west slope of the pass.
Later back in the San Luis Valley the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in better light in the late afternoon.
Another look south down that range of mountains.
That hill is all the way down by Antonito.
A pair of views looking back.
The old rails of the line that ran from Alamosa to Saluda.
The Rio Grande River.
Crossing the Rio Grande River.
Ex Denver and Rio Grande Railroad stock cars both standard and narrow gauge varieties.
Back in Alamosa we stopped to drop off those local officials from the Alamosa Chamber of Commerce before we headed to Antonito.
Historic St Mary's Railroad F-10 1100 at Alamosa.
Other power laying over at Alamosa.
The view looking back at Alamosa.
Curving south heading to Antonito.
Cars on the highway fly by us as we head south.
Straight as an arrow!
A former agricultural building.
The view east towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Blanca Peak.
Estrella.
Inside of SL&RG Coach 2948.
Inside of SL&RG Coach 5060.
Chris Parker enjoying our run south to Antonito.
The train taking a curve on this line.
The view back on the curve.
The former La Jara Station.
La Jara.
That hill to the east.
Sunset is about to happen as we close in on Antonito.
We arrived into Antonito and quickly detrained in the last light of the day.
I switched to the digital camera for the rest of this day. Another picture of our train at the Antonito Station.
The Antonito sign.
The sign and the Antonito Station.
There had been discussion about which side the third rail was when these tracks were dual gauge and the third rail was on the west side in Antonito. This meant that the narrow gauge cars would be along the platform at the Antonito Station. We all got back on the train so we could wye it then back south as far as we could towards the Harborlite Plant.
Ex Rio Grande now Cumbres and Toltec Railroad 2-8-2 494 is on display near their station in Antonito.
The eastern end of the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad.
Our train had passed the west switch of this wye and we would now back down the track as far as we could.
At the south switch we had to stop to line the track for our movement.
Our train then slowly backed down the track.
We kept rolling south on the old line to Santa Fe.
The train stopped to have a derail thrown before we continued to back slowly down the track during the last twilight of this fantastic day.
As far as we went south on this trip at the Harborlite Plant. The train now proceeded north back up past the Antonito Station then headed north to Alamosa. It got dark really quick so our trip was in completed in darkness. I sat in the 5060 for awhile watching the cars fly by on the highway. Later I went to the back door and was greeted by a sky full of stars. When it is this clear the stars are three dimensional across the sky. It is truly magical. We returned to Alamosa and detrained back to the car. Chris Parker and I drove to Chilli's for dinner. I enjoyed a steak and Halloween came early when one couple came in with a girl with major spiked hair. It was really weird and you should have seen the other diner's faces when they saw these people. After dinner we gassed up the car before returning to the Best Western Alamosa Inn. It had been a fantastic day of train riding today on the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad. Tomorrow would be a trip on the San Luis Central railroad but that is another story.
