Saturday, June 14 was opening day at the Cumbers and Toltec Scenic Railroad in Chama, NM. The first train of the season was eastbound with #487 doing the honors. It had just come out of the shop 3days prior. The men and women at the CATS need to be commended for their commitment to getting the locomotive and cars ready for this season. The ride was one of those that you can only understand by being there. We experianced mountain railroading at its best. We left Chama at 10 am and arrived at the pass 4 hours later. We arrived back in Chama on the bus at about 8:45 pm. There were the usual things that go wrong with the first day but I would have to say it was a wonderful sight to see steam in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado again this year

johndeck@cox.net