Tracking the Narrow Gauge From Chama to Durango

In the late 1800s, Denver and Rio Grande Railroad founder William Jackson Palmer had a dream of building a railroad from Denver south to Mexico City.

While his dream ended at Santa Fe, New Mexico, greater profits were realized by extending his narrow-gauge railroad west across Colorado and New Mexico to Durango and the mines at Silverton. Rocky Mountain railfans and history buffs have long been familiar with the two remaining segments of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad’s narrow-gauge route: the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.

These two railroads carry thousands of tourists every year. But what about the 111 miles between the two? What happened to the segment between Chama and Durango? Long since abandoned, travelers today can track this route along the highways and back roads of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.

With maps and historic and contemporary photographs, this book points the way to rediscovering this lost trackage. Branch lines, including logging railroads and the Farmington Branch, are also included, so the traveler has a complete guide to finding this long-gone section of the narrow-gauge railroad.