(mid-tempo instrumental music)
- [Voiceover] Welcome to the 1880's.
This train has been running
through these passes for over a century.
There's no cell service
up here, no gas stations,
and a whole lot of mountains.
It's also the highest, the
longest, and one of the last
authentic steam railroads
left in the country.
- There's probably no better
ride with a steam engine
than this ride ride here.
- [Voiceover] That's Jeff Stebbins.
Jeff is an engineer for
this train, officially known
as the Cumbres and Toltec Railway.
He's been working on this
railroad for the last 19 years.
- On this 64 miles of railroad,
I have about 50,000 miles
that would translate
out to around the earth
about two times.
- [Voiceover] Today's trains are
powered by diesel and electricity,
but this one keeps it old
school by running on coal.
- We shovel about three and a half
to four and a half tons of coal a day.
- [Voiceover] It's dirty
work and back in the 1930s,
trains began changing to
diesel because it was cheaper
and more efficient.
The coal-powered engines were phased out.
This one survived, thanks to
the people who cared about it
and saw its beauty.
- This 64 miles of railroad
into southern Colorado,
northern New Mexico,
it doesn't get much more
beautiful than this.
- [Voiceover] The other thing about coal
is that it produces all that iconic smoke
coming off the train.
The train takes visitors along its route
in the summer and fall.
People come for the history
more than for the thrill of it.
The train's top speed is
only 20 miles an hour.
- I love working on the railroad
and I look forward to each
morning that I come here.
There's really no place I'd rather be
than a filthy dirty locomotive.
(mid-tempo instrumental music)
