Saturday November 6 –  Is this a great day for a train ride or what??  We are about a half dozen or so miles out of Antonito Colorado on our way up to Toltec Gorge and the top of Cumbres Pass.  #488 is really working hard and the “stack music” is being enjoyed by all, through mostly raised windows and open-air cars.  No one seemed to mind a few cinders.

It was about this far out of town when the hostess in our parlor car brought around fresh fruit servings for us. They do know how to pamper the tourists.

Soon the terrain will change from open sage to rocky aspen and evergreen covered mountains.  There is no let-up in the grade from town to the top, about 50 miles.   We’ll stop for water in Sublette, about 20 miles.  This was home for the section gangs, the men who maintained the right-of-way, ties, ballast and rails.   Our train met the downhill train at Osier, and we all enjoyed dinner choices.  I chose turkey, with all the dressings.       Gary O. Ostlund (submitted by Jim Futrell)