NEW MEXICO, PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

well might as well get it started, another plane trip, this time to albuquerque new mexico, then via circuitous and very scenic roads, to chama new mexico for a trains magazine sponsored 2 day steam train photo charter on the cumbres & toltec scenic railroad, a narrow gauge line that was once part of the rio grande system. i was joined for much of the trip by our very own michael summers. and of course there were some unusual things to be seen. on thursday 8/23/18 i flew on a very early start to albuquerque, a 2 leg trip that went via islip to bwi to new mexico. i grabbed the rental car and i was off to the national museum of nuclear science and history. i found this while google map searching for the best burrito place. www.nuclearmuseum.org

 

and yes it really does exist, and it turned out to be a very interesting use of 2.5 hours and $12


and the whole thing was sort of retro cold war cool for this person, who lived those years



they had a bunch of ways on display to deliver nuclear weapons





a lot of nice displays on the scientists and their backgrounds behind nuclear research



los alamos during the manhattan project had its own postal code, but did not appear on any official map



nothing like thinking you might actually survive this





and they did have an official photographer, and check out his camera

 

a real norden bombsight



a replica of the first atomic bomb used, little boy





fat boy, the second bomb used



a packard, made into a stretch limo, using ash frame rails to pick up vip's and scientists coming into the lamy train station for transport to los alamos



they have a mockup of a civil defense shelter, such h as we had under the 1961 era elementary school i attended, complete with 5 gallon metal buckets labeled, peanut butter, DOD issue. olive green with yellow stencil lettering, so here is what they have civil defense carbohydrate supplement, whatever that is



and they talk of broken arrows, the term for a lost or misplaced nuclear weapon



the 2 actual casings from the bombs lost off palomares spain



interesting

 

here john wolff, this is for you, an actual b_29 on static display in the friendly low humidity new mexico climate

 

and they have a b-52 stuffed and mounted, unfortunately you cannot go inside it, i have actually seen these flying into and out of dover afb in delaware a few times, they go right over the camping areas for the racetrack





yes they have a minuteman, among several different types of cruise missile systems and other delivery missiles such as a bomarc, all of which are on view over on my smugmug site





and this aircraft immediately reminded me of the bond movie thunderball, i think that was the british version of this plane



and this, this was a little off the wall, nuclear scientist bobbleheads, collect the full set today!!! from the gift shop



and i thought this was sort of funny

 

after the museum i went to my hotel, room was ready early so i spent some time in the pool and cleaned up before going to historic old town albuquerque for a supper, great tex-mex at the church street cafe. had considered the idea of trying for a fiery sky southwest sunset but the sun angles and the city skyline do not line up right this time of year



another old adobe church

 

so michael flew in thursday evening, we headquartered at the airport sheraton, friday morning up early, breakfast at the waffle house, not 500 feet from the hotel, pecan waffle, home fries covered and smothered thank you with a coffee chaser, and i am good to go, so we set off on the road towards santa fe and north of there picked up the high road to taos, a nice 76 mile diversion into the remote new mexico mountain country . i had done this a couple of years ago but michael had never been on it, here is the 3 cultures statue from the sanctuary de chimayo where we made a brief stop



a small sheltered altar i believe for outside mass, these are all with the 21mm loxia hand held and manual focused



a prayer offering place?? this is not the religion of my youth so i am not as knowledgeable about what i am photograment sometimes



the actual church, somewhere is the grotto with the reported sacred healing mud, but i did not see it



moving along the road, we stopped at las truchas, home of an old adobe mission style church





a really cool mural on the side of what looked like a good old fashioned roadhouse nite club in penasco nm



some new mexico high country, the road has quite a few scenic pull offs



we stopped for lunch at the chili line cafe, in tres piedras, just north of the intersection of route 285 and route 64, the cafe took its name from the d&rg branch that ran through here, from alamosa colorado down to santa fe, it was called the chile line from all the colorful dried chiles hanging from the houses in the small communities enroute, the line had a very interesting history, this water tank and some traces of the old right of way are all that is left in this spot

 

it certainly was, especially to this child of the fifties/sixties cold war memories, air raid drills so they could find our ash outlines under our desks, hiding in the cellar bomb shelter eating gubmint peanut butter, etc. and i literally had no idea this existed until about 2 weeks before the trip, my flight was due in albuquerque at 11:05 am with that 2 hour time jump back, so i had been wondering what to do for about 3-4 hours until i could check in. so i decided to search out lunch, especially looking for the best burrito in the city, so i went into my zomato dining app, a great free traveling dining guide, and when i clicked on the map which links to google map, and zoomed out to get a rough idea where it was in relation to the airport, the museum popped into view, and of course being a total road nerd, i visited the website and that became the plan of the day. and i only posted a handful of what i took and kept, there is a bunch of other stuff, including many more outside display delivery systems over on my smugmug.

CAUTIONARY WARNING TO FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHERS, YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, YOU SHOULD KNOW AHEAD OF TIME HOW MANY TIME ZONES YOU ARE CROSSING, CHANGE THAT CAMERA, DO IT IN AIRPORT LOUNGE # 1, WHILE WAITING TO BOARD, JUST DO IT, DO IT NOW. NOT 3 HOURS AND 200 PLUS PHOTOS INTO THE NEW TIME ZONE

 

Very entertaining trip! Thanks for taking the time to write a report.
As a reward here is a fun fact: The Area code for Cape Canaveral is 321.
~J

 

so michael and i arrived in chama around the expected 3pm, but found no traces of the trains crew, michael was to help with the setup and lighting of the night shoot, so we went up to cumbres pass windy point area, since michael had the official timetable we did a car chase of the afternoon westbound coming from antonito, from the top of cumbres pass it is literally all downhill to chama, and in reverse it is a 4% up grade out of chama, over cumbres pass, and then a long glide down onto the high desert of antonito/ southern colorado. first place we shot is windy point, from the roadside the tracks are up high on a hillside, winding down and around to reappear behind us at a grade crossing



next, coxo crossing, making sure to park on the chama side of the crossing to allow the sprint back to the car and the move to the next spot



next spot, the locally named orgasm curve, apparently this was a popular romance spot in low traffic nighttime



the s curve spot



and off behind me from the above spot, looking down towards the valley that chama is in



dalton crossing, a forest service grade crossing, but unfriendly land owners on both sides of the road, it's a private ranch that has good cause to dislike railfans based on someone's prior actions



the narrows, also known as lobato lake



next posting will see a couple from the night shoot with the 2 engines in chama yard by the water tank

 

Care to dish on the dirty deed that led to hostile land owners at the Dalton crossing?
~J

 

Frivolous lawsuit.

 

i can batch change it in lightroom, but it's just easier to properly set the camera

WARNING # 2 TO FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHERS, SET THAT CAMERA BACK WHILE WAITING TO BOARD THAT FLIGHT HOME, NOT AFTER DENNIS POSTS SOMETHING LIKE THE ABOVE WHICH NOW SERVES AS A REMINDER.

 

and i should be in bed, just got home from company 3 monthly drill and meeting, and spent an hour in my office doing paperwork, but why not, i feel the need for steam, so here is the blue hour start to the night session, by the water tank in the chama yard, as you will see over the charter run, the rio grande found a tank design that worked for them and made many of them identical to this one



and the 2 locomotives that will be on our train tomorrow





and michael will have to fill in the gaps, that locomotive over on the right side will be operating soon i believe and has some kind of special significance, other than being another engine returned to steam

 

last couple from the night shoot

 

The locomotive on the right is the real #483. The locomotive in the middle was #488 filling in. The railroad payed attention to the small details and swapped smokebox grab irons between the two so #483' stand in (488) would have the correct lopsided set. As far as I know there are no current plans to restore the real #483 since the C&TS has a full stable of K-36's (#482, #484, #487, #488), one K-27 (#463), a C-18 (#315) on loan from the Durango Railroad Historical Society and a T-12 (#168) undergoing restoration. Five operable steam locomotives and one more on the way is nothing short of miraculous today, especially in such a remote place.

As if that wasn't enough, the C&TS also has more K-36's (#483, #489) and three K-37's (#492, #494, #495) stored, plus two Narrow Gauge steam rotary plows, one of which is in very good condition and may operate again one day. Seeing a rotary operate is a bucket list item... no question that I'll be there.

 

Wow, drive to Walt Disney World for the weekend, miss all this good stuff!!!!! Love it Gary, especially the B-29!

 

SO saturday morning, everybody assembled at chama yard for the welcoming remarks, the obligatory safety briefing , and then most folks climbed on the charter bus, since it was to be a chase railfan time up the hill to cumbres pass, where we would all board the train for the run to osier for lunch and then on to antonito with photo runbys enroute. michael and i used the car to chase to cumbres. first up, 484 backing onto our train, which had 20 cars, and an end train helper to cumbres pass, remember it is 4% up that hill, which is a huge grade for any railroad



our 2 iron horses for the day



first photo location, broad spur, mp 343.00, actually in the back yard of one of the railroad employees



the narrows/lake lobo, mp 340.50, but going uphill today



one upfront, and one pushing, cut in at the rear just in front of the caboose



the rear pusher