Colorado Springs to Alamosa

Woke up late this morning very tired, must've been a busy day yesterday! Set off for a Walmart to stock up on food, and once again were dismayed by what American supermarkets lack; no tasty bread things like pizza bread or even cheese buns, and apparently almost no dips (we bought some bread sticks without any dip… they're very dry!)

After that we went to try and find one of the local model train shops, and found the old Colorado Springs railway depot which is a lovely yellow wood/brick building. Had a Denver & Rio Grande (no Western) loco in the park opposite, and a Rio Grande caboose was coupled to an ex-Southern Pacific loco on the main line outside the station. But the train shop was shut :-( So went off looking for a polar fleece for Ange after hers went missing, but didn't have much luck there either. So went to a Best Buy for some electronics retail therapy, and made some enquiries about Zune HDs which are the coolest and hottest new thing in MP3 players. They were 100% sold out, but the other Colorado Springs store had some so we made our way over there. After much hunting we got the last one in the store, and indeed quite possibly the last one in Colorado Springs! I joked there were probably hundreds of frustrated teens now in Colorado Springs all angsty that they didn't get their Zune today.

After that we went into a sporting goods store and found a lovely polar fleece within seconds. Then we saw a bread shop and tried to go in but it was just a cafe. So I checked out the GPS and there was another train store nearby, so went to look at that. What a cool shop! They had lots of older out of production locos, so I grabbed a beautiful little Wisconsin Central loco (maroon and yellow) and a modern Union Pacific AC4400 (yellow and gray) loco. Signed up to their mailing list and had a good chat about how Customs the world over employ only the very finest trained monkeys. And had a good chat too about the Tennessee Pass and Ski Train. So walked out there a happy customer and headed off for Alamosa.

Long drive down, hit a bit of snow in places, and more endless road works. At one point there was a 2 inch height difference in the seal between lanes; no wonder Americans need four wheel drives! Saw quite a few coal trains making their way up the Joint Line; all had multiple locos on the front and back and were pretty long too. Going over La Veta Pass we saw some flashing lights; as we drove past there were some cops standing at the end of the road peering down the side of the bank… suspect someone might've gone over.

Storm lighting on the way to Alamosa through the La Veta Valley.

So arrived in Alamosa fairly late and found a motel and some food, then found a laundry and dried the rest of our clothes finally. Got absolutely drenched coming back though; the rain here is big !

Just as we were getting out of the car I heard the distinctive sound of an American steam train whistle coming from down the road, which is a great sound on a dark, wet rainy night.

So why Alamosa, middle of nowhere in the La Veta Valley? Well it's the epicentre of the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad, a freight railway that has made a very successful entry into tourist operations. So tomorrow morning we're off on a full day train trip to La Veta and back, over the La Veta Pass. Then on the 25th we're catching the SL&RG RR to Antonito to catch the Cumbres and Toltec narrow gauge steam train, and then back on the SL&RG in time for dinner. And finally on the 26th we're catching the Potato Train which is a mixed train down the potato valley. A mixed train, in 2009!? Heck yeah! It's not an especially long trip, but it'll be fun riding along as part of a freight train, stopping to switch cars at industries and so forth.

Then on the 27th we're off to Durango for the Durango and Silverton mixed freight fall photographers special! So lots of train trips coming up, just hope the weather decides to improve; rain and gray loses its appeal fairly quickly!