Cumbres & Toltec

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad crosses the Rockies on three-foot-gauge track. From Chama, New Mexico, it climbs at 4 % to Cumbres Pass, 10,015 ft above sea level, then winds down past the rim of the Toltec Gorge to Antonito, Colorado, 64 miles away, crossing the state line eleven times on the way. The Denver & Rio Grande laid it in 1880, and every regular train is still pulled by steam.

The line survived by accident. The silver crash of 1893 left too little traffic to justify widening it to standard gauge, so the railroad of the 1880s stayed as it was, and when the Rio Grande gave up its narrow gauge in 1969 the most scenic stretch was bought by Colorado and New Mexico together. The two states still own it, and it is a National Historic Landmark.

Riding it is a full day. A train leaves each end every morning; the two meet for lunch at Osier, halfway, and a motorcoach takes you back to your car in an hour. The season runs from late May to late October.

Leaving Chama, the work starts almost at once. About a mile out the line turns up the mountain on a grade that averages 4 %, among the steepest on any North American railroad, and crosses Lobato Trestle over Wolf Creek. Aspen meadows give way to conifers, the whole Chama Valley opens up behind, and near the top the track runs in a cut blasted through volcanic rock. At Cumbres, 10,015 ft, the engine stops for water beside the old section house: the climb uses most of what its tender carries.

Beyond the summit the line loops back on itself at Tanglefoot Curve to lose height gently, runs down the valley of the Los Piños and crosses Cascade Trestle, 137 ft above the creek and the highest bridge on the line, before pulling into Osier for lunch.

Toltec Gorge and the high desert

East of Osier the scenery turns to rock. The train passes through Mud Tunnel, lined with timber because it was bored through soft volcanic ash, rounds Phantom Curve, named for a spire that casts a ghostly shadow, and comes out of Rock Tunnel onto a narrow ledge above the Toltec Gorge, with the Rio de los Pinos far below. Then the hills soften, the water stop at the section camp of Sublette comes and goes, and the line twists down through the double horseshoe of Whiplash Curve to a lava mesa and the sagebrush of the San Luis Valley. Antonito is the end of the track.

The locomotives

The engines are Mikados, 2-8-2s with their frames outside the wheels, all built by Baldwin for the Rio Grande. Four are K-36s of 1925, Nos. 484, 487, 488 and 489; No. 489 was converted to burn oil before the 2021 season, and the rest burn coal. The fifth is No. 463, a K-27 of 1903, one of a class nicknamed the Mudhens; it spent years as the property of the singing cowboy Gene Autry and returned to service in 2013. Heavy trains get two engines.

The season runs from late May to late October. One train leaves each end at 10:00 every operating day; they meet at Osier at lunchtime, and each then carries on to the far end of the line. In October 2026 the trains run every day except Monday, and the last day of the season is 25 October.

Chama to Antonito

Antonito to Chama

The Chama–Antonito ride takes about seven hours. To ride the whole line and get back to your car the same day, book an All Aboard trip: either take the motorcoach first (it leaves at 08:30 and connects with the other end's 10:00 train) or take the train first and return by coach. Either way you are back where you started between 16:20 and 18:15.

Good to know:

• Half the line. The Chama Limited and Antonito Limited ride to Osier for lunch and change there onto the train heading home: back in Chama at 16:20, or in Antonito at 16:55. In autumn an extra Chama Limited runs on some dates, and a later 11:00 on others.
• The summit only. The Cumbres Express starts at the pass itself, at 11:10, and is back there at 15:15 after lunch at Osier.
• Be at the depot 30 minutes before departure. The coaches are not heated; bring layers, and eye protection for the open gondola, where cinders fly.

Times as of September 2026, from the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad's trip pages; October operating days confirmed in its booking system. Confirm before travelling on cumbrestoltec.com (opens in a new tab).

Seats are reserved and booked online or by phone; trains often sell out, so buy ahead. For the whole line with the motorcoach back, Coach is $175.15, the table-seated Deluxe car $254.25 and the Victorian Parlor Observation car, for over-21s, $333.35. A Limited to Osier and back, or the Cumbres Express, is $152.55 in Coach. Children aged 6 to 10 pay $118.65 on the full line, and 2- to 5-year-olds $73.45. Lunch at Osier is included in all of these.

Fares include the railroad's 7 % Historic Preservation Fee. Changes cost $6 a ticket up to the day before; cancelling 48 hours or more ahead costs $18 per adult, and nothing is refunded after that. Fares checked September 2026 for October dates at cumbrestoltec.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No national rail pass covers this train. The Cumbres & Toltec is owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico and sells its own tickets; Amtrak's USA Rail Pass is valid on Amtrak's own services, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The railroad sells a pass of its own: a Season Pass at $405 for adults (13 and over) and $255 for children aged 2 to 12, good for ten Coach trips on the regular daily trains. Lunch and the motorcoach are paid for separately at booking, special trains are excluded, and the pass is non-refundable. It pays off only for someone riding several times in a season, such as a hiker using the train to reach the Continental Divide Trail at Cumbres Pass. For a single visit, buy the ticket.

Checked September 2026 against cumbrestoltec.com (opens in a new tab).

Chama and Antonito are small towns at the two ends of the line, and both are worth a walk before or after the train. Around them lie the lakes of the Chama valley, the red-rock country of Ghost Ranch to the south and, across the San Luis Valley, the tallest sand dunes in North America.

The trains leave at 10:00 from both ends, so a night in Chama or Antonito beforehand makes the morning easy. Both towns are small; these are two places to stay, one beside the river in Chama and one on Antonito's Main Street.

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