National Register Listing

Denver & Rio Grande Railroad San Juan Extension

a.k.a. Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Rairoad

Between Antonito and Chama, NM via Cumbres Pass, Antonito, CO

The railroad was certainly one of the major factors in the western expansion and economic development of the United States. Through the effects of the silver panic of 1893, the depression of the 1930's, and the rising dependence on highway travel and the airline industry, the role of the rail road in transporting Americans and their goods has been pushed back to relative obscurity. Ineffective management and high labor costs have also taken their toll, with the result that the image of the railroad in America is a poor one indeed. Perhaps the saddest part of all is the almost complete disappearance of the historical heritage of the railroad. In the rush toward more modern equipment and bigger, faster trains, the older equipment which had so much nostalgic appeal has been scrapped as fast as it could be replaced, with little thought toward preservation for future generations. It is a pleasant surprise indeed, then, to find a railroad that is in all ways unchanged from the way it was in 1925. The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad is just that. Although the teapot locomotives and thirty-pound rail of the 1880's are gone, little else has changed on this remarkable railroad The historical integrity is so well preserved that the only operating coaling tower in the United States is used to coal the engines daily during the operating season. There are other tourist railroads, but few can approach the authentic adherence to a period of half a century ago that the C&TS has. The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad is a remnant of one of the most important parts of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, historically speaking. Due to the rugged terrain and the low density of population, northern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado remained one of the most seldom seen parts of our land. For probably half a century, the railroad was the only means of transportation over long distances, the only source of consumer goods, and the only source of news from "the world outside" that the inhabitants of this region had. The railroad brought the people in to settle this lonely land, and the railroad took to market the incredible riches the people found here. Gold, silver, lead, lumber, wheat, beans, cattle, sheep and numerous other goods moved by trainload over this busy little railroad. The tourist of today can easily comprehend the incredible difficulties of locating and building mountain railroads in the 1880s. The rugged mountains, the high passes and the deep canyons presented formidable obstacles to the surveyors and the fact that the line was indeed laid out and constructed by men using black powder, mules and dump carts is a shining example of the spirit of courage, farsightedness and perseverance with which our pioneer fore-bearers were endowed.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.