Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec K-36's 100th Anniversary Photo Excusion
The legendary K-36 class of locomotives are the backbone the fleets of both the Durango and Silverton and Cumbres and Toltec Railroads. The class of 10 were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925. Known as the last 'new' locomotives built for the Denver & Rio Grande Westerner narrow gauge lines and were monsters when built being roughly 25% larger than the 1923 K-28 class. The K-36 along with the 1928 / 1930 built K-37 were the main freight power from being delivered until the end of freight operations in 1968.
In December 1952, 485 walked by itself onto the edge of the Salida turn table. She fell onto her front right cylinder and was deemed too much to fix and was scrapped. To this day, she is the only K-36 to be scrapped. That makes a 90% survival rate for the class. As of this writing in the spring of 2026; the D&S own and run the 480, 481 and 482 with the 486 in the round house museum, awaiting its turn to return to the fleet. The C&TS has the 487, 488 and 489 in service with the 483 and 484 on display in Chama. The 484 ran in the 2025 season and is due for its 1472 inspection and rebuild. She is expected to be back in operation in 2028 after sitting out for two years. The 483 has legendary status as being the one serviceable engine the Cumbres and Toltec had when starting up in 1970. She served the railroad spectacularly those first years without major shops to keep her up. In 1977, she was set aside needing more work than the shop could do and hasn't ran since. There isn't anything majorly wrong with her but at this point, just needs a complete rebuild and has donated numerous parts that would need to be returned. A bit more of 483's unique history can be found here.
While the K-36 was known to handle the passenger runs when called, they were most famous of slogging up the 4% grades of Cumbres and Marshall passes. Thus, for the 100th anniversary, it made the most sense to celebrate it by watching them do what they do best, climbing Cumbres. The volunteer organization, Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec, sponsored a photo excursion, the days after the last day of the season, October 26th and 27th.
During freight operations, to get the trains up the 4% grade from Chama to Cumbres, the trains from Durango would stop in Chama and were broken into cuts for the two engines to take to the summit with one at the head end and one cut in ahead of the caboose. Once the two or three cuts of the train made the summit, the combined train would then go with the road engine to Alamosa with the helper running light ahead. When running west up the easier east side of the pass from Antonito to Cumbres, long trains were the norm with the help located mid train.
This was to be a two day charter. The first day we run from Chama to Antonio, with the 487 and 488 taking a cut of freight cars up to Cumbres the morning with the 488 cut in ahead of the caboose. Road engine 487 would take the entire string to Antonito with the 488 running light ahead of us. The next day, the 487 was again road engine with the 488 now operating mid-train and we run from Antonito over to Chama. At Cumbres, to save time, the train was split in two with the 487 taking the cut ahead of 488 down with the 488 bringing the rest.
The train had a string of 'stealth' rider cars at the end. It was involved a caboose, bathroom / concession box car, rider open gondola, rider boxcar, rider open gondola, and then a rider boxcar in the lead. These looked like normal freight cars for the most part and made as easy way for us to ride while not taking away from the freight train. However, on the trip up from Chama to Cumbres, the railroad didn't want to have people ahead of a rear helper engine (for good reasons). To compromise, they asked all willing to drive up to do that and had a limited number seats in the two cabeese behind the helper. The highway parallels the rail line all the way from Chama to Cumbres so great pictures can be had from the car. For those that wanted to still ride, they tagged an extra caboose with our normal one on the rear giving a limited number of seats there. I believe most chose to drive for photos but I am sure it was a cool experience riding. The second caboose was left at Cumbres after the climb so that our train had just one caboose as normal. On the trip back down from Cumbres to Chama, when road engine 487 took the lead cut of cars, they picked up the spare caboose left at the summit so its small train still looked complete.
Note: In looking at the edits of this trip, I noticed many edits that ended up being very close in angles and train placement but I decided to keep them in. I apologize for this but it is hard to decide which ones to include sometimes.
Day 1 - Saturday, October 25th
Day 2 - Sunday, October 26th
Day 3 - Monday, October 27th
Day 4 - Tuesday, October 28th
There are many excellent videos on YouTube of the event. My recommendations are below:
In December 1952, 485 walked by itself onto the edge of the Salida turn table. She fell onto her front right cylinder and was deemed too much to fix and was scrapped. To this day, she is the only K-36 to be scrapped. That makes a 90% survival rate for the class. As of this writing in the spring of 2026; the D&S own and run the 480, 481 and 482 with the 486 in the round house museum, awaiting its turn to return to the fleet. The C&TS has the 487, 488 and 489 in service with the 483 and 484 on display in Chama. The 484 ran in the 2025 season and is due for its 1472 inspection and rebuild. She is expected to be back in operation in 2028 after sitting out for two years. The 483 has legendary status as being the one serviceable engine the Cumbres and Toltec had when starting up in 1970. She served the railroad spectacularly those first years without major shops to keep her up. In 1977, she was set aside needing more work than the shop could do and hasn't ran since. There isn't anything majorly wrong with her but at this point, just needs a complete rebuild and has donated numerous parts that would need to be returned. A bit more of 483's unique history can be found here.
While the K-36 was known to handle the passenger runs when called, they were most famous of slogging up the 4% grades of Cumbres and Marshall passes. Thus, for the 100th anniversary, it made the most sense to celebrate it by watching them do what they do best, climbing Cumbres. The volunteer organization, Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec, sponsored a photo excursion, the days after the last day of the season, October 26th and 27th.
During freight operations, to get the trains up the 4% grade from Chama to Cumbres, the trains from Durango would stop in Chama and were broken into cuts for the two engines to take to the summit with one at the head end and one cut in ahead of the caboose. Once the two or three cuts of the train made the summit, the combined train would then go with the road engine to Alamosa with the helper running light ahead. When running west up the easier east side of the pass from Antonito to Cumbres, long trains were the norm with the help located mid train.
This was to be a two day charter. The first day we run from Chama to Antonio, with the 487 and 488 taking a cut of freight cars up to Cumbres the morning with the 488 cut in ahead of the caboose. Road engine 487 would take the entire string to Antonito with the 488 running light ahead of us. The next day, the 487 was again road engine with the 488 now operating mid-train and we run from Antonito over to Chama. At Cumbres, to save time, the train was split in two with the 487 taking the cut ahead of 488 down with the 488 bringing the rest.
The train had a string of 'stealth' rider cars at the end. It was involved a caboose, bathroom / concession box car, rider open gondola, rider boxcar, rider open gondola, and then a rider boxcar in the lead. These looked like normal freight cars for the most part and made as easy way for us to ride while not taking away from the freight train. However, on the trip up from Chama to Cumbres, the railroad didn't want to have people ahead of a rear helper engine (for good reasons). To compromise, they asked all willing to drive up to do that and had a limited number seats in the two cabeese behind the helper. The highway parallels the rail line all the way from Chama to Cumbres so great pictures can be had from the car. For those that wanted to still ride, they tagged an extra caboose with our normal one on the rear giving a limited number of seats there. I believe most chose to drive for photos but I am sure it was a cool experience riding. The second caboose was left at Cumbres after the climb so that our train had just one caboose as normal. On the trip back down from Cumbres to Chama, when road engine 487 took the lead cut of cars, they picked up the spare caboose left at the summit so its small train still looked complete.
Note: In looking at the edits of this trip, I noticed many edits that ended up being very close in angles and train placement but I decided to keep them in. I apologize for this but it is hard to decide which ones to include sometimes.
Day 1 - Saturday, October 25th
- Fly from Houston to Albuquerque, pick up supplies and drive to Chama
- Check in to Iron Rail Inn (ex Hotel n Shops)
- Chased the last daily passenger train of the year at Cresco and chased it into Chama.
- Night photos session of 487 at the coal tower.
Day 2 - Sunday, October 26th
- Ride the Friends K-36 Photos Special eastbound from Chama to Antonito.
- Chase from Chama to Cumbres and board there.
- Excellent ride and photo runbys to Antonito.
- Bused back to Chama and dinner at the Iron Rail Hotel.
Day 3 - Monday, October 27th
- Up very early to meet my ride in the Chama parking lot
- Drove up to Cumbres to catch the bus to Antonito from there.
- Train left Antonito at 8am with a mid train helper for Cumbres.
- Had a great day of riding and photo runbys.
- Got off a Cumbres and chased down to Chama.
- Dinner at the Iron Horse and drinks with some friends after that.
Day 4 - Tuesday, October 28th
- Checked out
- Watched 487 with ballast train duty in the morning.
- Drove back to Albuquerque and flew home.
There are many excellent videos on YouTube of the event. My recommendations are below:
- Even More of a Century of Steam (from K-36's) over Cumbres By Big Diehl
- Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Freight Train! By Yard Limit
- Cumbres & Toltec Friends' Fall Photo Charter, "Chama to Cumbres Pass", 10/26/25 Part 1 by Whitcraft
- Cumbres & Toltec Friends' Fall Photo Charter, "Cumbres to Tanglefoot Curve", 10/26/25 Part 2 by Whitcraft
- Cumbres & Toltec Friends' Fall Photo Charter, "Tanglefoot Curve to Sublette", 10/26/25 Part 3 by Whitcraft