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Departed Toronto by bus May 28 at 6:30 pm and after 3 short stops, arrived in Chicago at 5am (Central) the next morning. I've taken the bus to Buffalo to catch the Lakeshore Limited at Depew before, but it arrives at nearly midnight. Anyway, the bus was not crowded and the seats were quite comfortable (I'll be honest here. I didn't sleep on the bus) and I arrived in time to have breakfast at Lou Mitchell's near Union Station...more expensive than I remembered, but you're also paying for the atmosphere as well as the well prepared food. I picked up my First Class ticket at Union Station for the California Zephyr the next day and had a short snooze in the Great Hall, which by 8am was busy with pedestrians going to work in the Loop. Before I left the station, I bought a $5 CTA visitor's transit pass, good for 24 hours after its' first use. The Hostel International, www.hichicago.org, on E. Congress Parkway, near Michigan Ave. is about a 15 minute walk from Union Station. I like staying there because it's so close to the Chicago Art Institute which I always visit when I'm in Chicago. And it's cheap. The hostel provides a safe environment and caters to students, international travelers and seniors like myself who appreciate the reasonable rates (Under $40)for a shared room with ensuite washroom. I'm a member of the hostelling association, for which I get a small discount. After visiting the Art Institute, I had a fine lunch in the Walnut Room, in Marshall Field's Store, which has been mentioned before on this site. The afternoon was spent on a river cruise with running commentary by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Made my way by Red Line subway to Wrigley Field for a ticket for that night's Cubs ball game and had dinner at John Barleycorn's Pub on the advice of the box-office employee. A full day. The next morning I took the Dearborn St. bus north to the "Original Pancake House" on E. Belleview Place. I've been there several times before and love their decadent cherry crepes. Afterward, I made my way to the Chicago History Museum at the south end of Lincoln Park. I joined in with a group of seniors who had a wonderful long-time resident of Chicago as a docent. We finished our tour with a group discussion while sitting in one of the original Chicago streetcars. The remarkable displays include a detailed accounting of how Chicago became the railway hub for America. Well worth a visit. Returned to the hostel for my bag and took a cab to "Perry's Deli" on N. Franklin. Breakfast and lunch only, but what a wonderful place...if you like pastami or brisket "super platters". Just don't let your cell phone ring. You won't get served, I'm told. Union Station was a 15 minute walk south and I headed straight to the Metropolitan Lounge which was so full, I had to sit on the floor for a while before a chair became available. Train 5 departed at exactly 2pm. My sleepng car attendant, Steve, normally didn't work in this part of the Amtrak system, but had been 'seconded' from some other district. Anyway, he was cheerful, helpful and efficient as has been my experience on past trips with other line personnel. I took the early dinner call and had a pretty good steak dinner with agreeable table companions--a retired teacher like myself and an older gent (who am I kidding? I'm 65!) who was a retired electical engineering professor from Penn State who had encyclopedic knowledge about American and Canadian railway systems and the machinery involved. I fessed up that I just like riding trains. Arrived in Denver about a half an hour late and had a very nice breakfast at a place called "Dozens", just west of the new Denver Art Museum, which is a building designed by Daniel Liebeskind who was responsible for the controversial crystal shape of the recent addition to the Royal Ontario Musum in Toronto. The museum has a wonderful collection of Charles Russell paintings. Picked up my rental car and headed out to Golden and the Colorado Railway Museum. I've been to the railway museum in Sacramento and it might be unfair to compare the two, but the CRM reminds me of an elderly aunt I had, bless her soul, who tried hard but always looked a bit dusty and worn at the edges if you know what I mean. They did have a nice running steam engine, but much of their displays are outside and have been exposed to the elements. Spent the night in Glenwood Springs and was impressed by the famous hotel warm springs swimming pool and I was told that Doc Holliday is buried somewhere in G. Springs. The road trip to Durango was through some of the most mountainous terrain I've ever been in, with two routes eliminated because roads were still blocked by snow on June 1. Few guardrails along these paved roads. On arrival in Durango, I went straight to the Durango & Silverton Railway Station and wanted to get a seat on the parlor car as "ehbowen" on this site recommended. What I was able to get was coach to Silverton and Parlor car on the way back, which amounted to about a $40 saving. I'm glad I did that because the coach seats were quite comfortable and I met a man in coach who worked as a dining car steward on a passenger train on the New York to Chicago run and he had a wonderful stories of the New York Yankee baseball team who, in the mid-1950's had their own sleeper and dining car when they travelled. The Alamosa Parlor car was nice but not really worth the extra money in my view. You did have the nice rear platform to watch the spectacular scenery through the narrow gorges which were at flood stage all the way along. In Durango, I stayed at the "Alpine Inn" at the north end of Durango for around $40 a night. A pleasant clean place, it included a small fridge and microwave. (The cheaper motels all seem to be at the north end) Dinner was at the "Serious Texas BBQ", south of town, which, judging from the signed photos on the walls, must be a favorite of Willie Nelson. The price for the back ribs was reasonable and as good as any, but not remarkable. The next morning I had a great breakfast in the "Durango Diner" on Main Ave., near 10th St. This place was a real find, just outside the main tourist area and frequented, from what I could see, by locals. I traveled over to visit the Mesa Verde Cliff dwellings as recommended by "train lady". My ticket for the first tour at 9am was with a bus load of Japanese tourists who required an interpreter to translate what the National Park guide was saying at each stop through the Indian ruins. As a result, we missed a lot of detail because of the time taken up by the interpretation. I then drove to Chama to the Cumbres and Toltec railway station and bought my ticket for the next day, this time by bus from Antonito and return by steam from Chama as recommended by "RussM" at half the fare for the parlor car option. I was corrected in my pronunciation of Chama by the ticket clerk. "Chawma" is proper, apparently. I spent two nights at Alamosa, about 20 miles north of Antonito, which reminded me of the dreary little Texas town featured in the movie, "The Last Picture Show". The bus from the train station in Antonito carried ten of us (one being our engineer, as it turned out). With the cost of fuel the way it is, the Cumbres and Toltec was not going to make much profit that day. The train had an open car between the coach car and the Alamosa Parlor car. The train uses according to the engineer, 4 tons of coal to make the trip from Chama to Antonito. The scenery is really spectacular, up to sub-alpine forest near the passes. The delighful part of this trip is the stop at the half-way point at Osier where we received an excellent lunch as part of our fare. I had roast turkey with all the trimmings. Really well prepared, cafeteria style. Our docent for the trip was Bob. Now Bob was dressed in what I'd call drugstore cowboy regalia, minus the sixguns. He moved back and forth between the cars giving question and answer sessions and, of course, knew everything about the equipment on the train as well as the history of the little settlements we passed. The trip downhill to Antonito was in a true desert environment with the train covering the flat land in a blazing 16 miles per hour. (I timed the mile posts)
To conclude, I really couldn't honestly choose which train experience I liked best. I love watching steam trains. They're almost alive. I'm just glad I got to ride on both narrow gauge railways in the Colorado Rockies and more importantly, met some memorable people along the way.
Posts: 33 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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I enjoyed reading this. I agree about the differences in the two railway museums. I suppose the Colorado one resembles more the Jamestown extension rather than the main Sacramento museum. The Colorado exhibits do suffer from being exposed to the elements but the museum does provide a good insight into the narrow guage workings for which that state was particularly renowned. Sacramento is superb, even better than York! I enjoyed the 2005 exhibition which placed the railway in California in its social context. I also like the fact thatit is staffed with former railroad employees.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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Nice trip report, I had fun reading it...especially the part about Durango and Chama.
I've been lucky enough to spend the past 17 summers at our family's cabin north east of Durango. My dad and I even built an outdoor train layout based on the D&RGW narrow gauge lines of the early 1950s. Here's a link to our layout's website:
The drive from the north down to Durango is probably some of the scariest driving out there. I assume you took 550 through Red Mountain Pass and not 160 through Wolf Creek Pass. The reason there's no guard rails in places you'd think there should be is due to the snow. Snow plows buck the stuff off the sides of the road down the cliffs. With guard rails this would be impossible.
I'm personally not a big fan of Serious Texas BBQ, but just my opinion. I prefer some of the nicer restaurants closer to the rail depot in town...but not always the best when operating on a trip budget. The BBQ place is at the extreme north end so I think you meant "north" of town instead of south.
Looks like they got you on the Chama pronunciation Did you say Chayma That's OK, when we first came to the area there's a road to our place called Florida road. It's pronounced Flor"eye"da unlike the state, so the locals have fun with that too.
Some interesting history for you. That blazing 16 mph in the flatlands near Antonito was actually up to 45 mph in the days of the prestigious passenger train that ran from Alamosa to Durango and back. Yep there used to be tracks between Chama and Durango, but these were torn up in 1968. We're lucky the Silverton and Chama lines were saved. Anyway, that passenger train was called the San Juan and the consist was usually a K-28 (one of the 47x series locos) an RPO, a baggage car, one or two coaches, and a parlor car. The Alamosa you rode in was one of the parlor cars used. Unlike the Silverton gold coach paint everyone knows about, the San Juan cars were painted in a resplendent highly varnished Pullman green. Quite a beautiful train in it's day. The parlor car proudly displayed the San Juan name on a drumhead. It looks like this:
Sometimes I wish the San Juan still ran. It's hard to get to Denver from Durango, and the mountain roads are nothing I'd wish on anyone. Unfortunately the San Juan was abandoned in 1951...around the time the Silverton gold paint first showed up.
If you do ever plan to come back to Durango, a better and safer drive is from the south from Albuquerque, New Mexico. You can take Amtrak's Southwest Chief from Chicago to Albuquerque and then rent a car for the 200 mile trip to Durango. Highway 550 is a 4 lane highway for most of the trip and there's no dangerous mountain roads. Much better and quicker trip then from the north...of course you do miss Golden and the train museum when you go this way. And if you don't mind long bus traveling, there's a Greyhound bus depot in Durango and it has a connection with a bus that drops you off right at the Amtrak/Greyhound depot in Albuquerque. The bus schedule doesn't meet up with the Southwest Chief so an overnight stay would be required in downtown Albuquerque.
Glad you enjoyed your Colorado journey. Y'all come back now
-------------------- Matt Visit gallery for photos of our train layouts Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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Excellent report Dan. Thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your visits in the cities as well as the train ride. On your next trip you should also check out the Rio Grande Scenic RR from Alamosa.
It is standard gauge but steam powered on weekends and a great trip over the Sangre de Cristo Mtns. The home made parlor car they have on the train is well worth it for views of the mountains while soaking up the atmosphere.
I also enjoyed hearing of your conversation with the former NYC steward. As a baseball fan (initially Philadelphia -aka 'Futile'- Phillies, now Atlanta Braves) I've always wanted to learn more about travel when teams traveled by train. Before the west coast teams started in the late 50's, I think the longest trip would have been New York to St. Louis. I wonder how many Pullmans the team used and did they have their own dining and lounge cars?
While my wife and I still enjoy camping (in a tent), especially in the Rockies, I'm not sure if I am brave enough for a hostel. But a $40 room in Chicago sounds pretty good as most of the time we just want a quiet clean room for a quick overnight and not a resort experience. But I will have to check it out.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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I'm spending three days in Colorado in about two and a half weeks and can hardly wait.
I'll be taking my 4th ride on the Cumbres & Toltec (which I prefer over the Durango & Silverton........in part thanks to the Turkey Dinner!) and spending another day chasing the C&T train up to Cumbres Pass from 'Chawma'.
On my 3rd day I'm going to ride the train at the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway in Canon City. I picked that over the Rio Grande Scenic in Alamosa which I rode last summer!
Ahhhhhh, good times.
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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My wife and I took the Royal Gorge trip in 2001 and really enjoyed it. I didn't realise at the time that it was such a famous and well-documented line. It was only we arrived at the Hanging Bridge that I recognised where I was from a childhood picture book! The on-board commentary was very informative about both the history of the line, its aspirations etc. and the wild-life to be seen in the Gorge. Canon City was our first experience of a small US town and we found it fascinating. I do not recall any out of town shopping outlets and clutter of advertising boards as is so common, even in a place like Salida, before you make the detour to the original town. I believe that there have been various upgrades in the train service options since then. You'll enjoy it. We also did the Georgetown Loop on that trip, it was before the problems they ran into recently. Again a great experience for the senses, visual, smell and sound. And an excellent guide at the mine.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Did you say Chayma ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
That's OK, when we first came to the area there's a road to our place called Florida road. It's pronounced Flor"eye"da unlike the state, so the locals have fun with that too.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
