The Lead FP-40

The Alamosa Station

Over the engineer’s shoulder

View From the Cab

View From the front porch of the FP-40

The conductor, Paul

The summit at Fir is 9242 feet,

making the Rio Grande Scenic RR

the highest standard gauge

Railroad operating in the US.

It’s definitely a mountain railroad

With 2 tunnels, sharp 16 degree curves and

3% grades

Beautiful mountain views

And there’s quite a bit of wildlife for the sharp

eye to spot

Cattle chutes from a much

earlier time and the hand laid

roadbed from the narrow gauge era of over 100 years

ago

and a lot of history of railroading from the

past.

Over the pass, down the grade to LaVeta and a stop for lunch

The restored LaVeta station.

On the LaVeta siding after the Wye

turnaround for the locomotive, ready to

head back to Alamosa

On the way back to Alamosa, on the passing siding at Fir, a 3 unit

heavy freight waited for us to clear the track so he could proceed to

Walsenburg.

Yesterday’s train headed home