The westbound “San Juan Express #216” passenger train outbound from Antonito struck an Antonito track “tie crew” motor car occupied by two Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad employees shortly after noon Tuesday.

A preliminary report indicates that repairing the burned trestle on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad line will cost around $2 million — more than five times the amount of insurance coverage carried on the structure.

Mr. John Matthews clears a mudslide from the tracks of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad today at Mud Tunnel.

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced it will not ban shipments of low-level waste from coming through Conejos County, despite a request from U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.

Structural engineers say the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad’s Lobato Trestle, which was damaged June 23 in an early morning fire, should be replaced.

The trestle raked by fire on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad last week can be saved, according to an analysis of the damaged structure.

Photo Courtesy Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

A fire heavily damaged a bridge late Wednesday, forcing the suspension of routine operations of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad out of the Chama Depot. An estimated 80 percent of the track of Lobato Trestle, the second highest bridge on the 64-mile train route, was lost to a fire, rendering it temporarily impassable by trains, according to railroad spokesman Nick Quintana. Currently at the scene are about 25 firefighters, including two Bureau of Land Management crews and one crew from New Mexico State Forestry. Marvin Casias, the railroad's general manager, called the fire

the most significant mishap to the track and right-of-way in...the 40 years the Cumbres and Toltec has been in operation.

Now in their 40th year, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, co-owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico has begun a new season with plenty of passengers enjoying the trips between Antonito and Chama, located in northern New Mexico, 64 miles away by rail.

The battle over whether Conejos County can regulate a transfer station just south of Antonito where contaminated soil would be loaded from truck to train is headed to court. County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to reject a settlement proposal from the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad and Energy Solutions, a Utah-based waste disposal company.

A local railroad and a Utah waste disposal company hope to resume the shipping of contaminated soil through town, but both remain at odds with Conejos County. County officials maintain they have the authority to regulate a proposed transfer station south of town where the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad would load the contaminated soil from truck to its rail cars for delivery to EnergySolutions' repository in Clive, Utah.

The snowfall on March 19th produced seven foot drifts on the rail line across La Veta Pass, and the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad's Winter Wonderland Express plowed through the snow on today's run.

Federal transportation officials passed on a proposal that would have brought $98 million in railroad track upgrades and other improvements to the San Luis Valley.

After hearing remarks that called the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad "the engine" that drives the economy of small San Luis Valley towns, the Colorado House Capital Development Committee on Tuesday devoted $1 million in federal stimulus funds to rail improvements on the historic line.

Monday at 8:15 AM in room 356 at the Colorado State Capitol, the Capital Development Committee will review a request for funds for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. State Representative Edward Vigil, D-Ft. Garland, who represents much of southern rural Colorado and the San Luis Valley said, "Built in 1880, The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is an important part of our history, and an important part of our future economic development. The Railroad employs many workers in Conejos county and brings tourists into the area. If we don't adequately support the Railroad, and the C&T were to close, our small towns like Antonito could become ghost towns. I support the full funding of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad as a means to keep our hometowns towns viable and thriving."

Alamosa, like most of our country, grew up with railroads. And while the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad put many towns on the map, none went up quite as quickly as Alamosa. The narrow gauge rail into town was completed on June 22, 1878, and shortly after, a train full of assorted pre-built buildings from nearby Garland City were brought in and put into place that same day. Rumor has it, in fact, that the men who worked the line had breakfast in Garland City that morning, and were later served dinner in the same building that evening – in Alamosa.

Cumbres & Toltec Xmas train, 12-Dec-09. From the rear platform of the train, I shoot most of the trip from 2 miles W of Antonito, to Lava tank. The video is speeded up 5 times to reduce the trip to about 9.5 minutes.

Mayor Mike Trujillo narrates and documents the transfer of PCB and radioactive waste contaminated soil that was transfered into Conejos County without proper permitting by Energy Solutions, a Utah based company.

A Utah company that hopes to haul contaminated soil from Los Alamos National Laboratory and transfer it to rail just south of town has halted its operations for a review by Conejos County and state transportation officials. The company, EnergySolutions, does not list this debacle in the "current news" section of their website.

A Salt Lake City company that ships hazardous waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory agreed Thursday to suspend their transfer operation at Antonito for two days, while alarmed Conejos County officials decide how to regulate the operation. On Tuesday, EnergySolutions, which specializes in the recycling and disposal of nuclear material, began hauling contaminated soil by truck to Antonito where it transfers the waste to the San Luis & Rio Grande for shipment on to a company storage site in Clive, Utah. An official with the Utah company shipping contaminated soil from Los Alamos National Laboratory defended the company's decision to transfer its shipments from truck to rail at Antonito.