The Little Train That Would Not Die

Starting with a little known Indian Battle on top of the Cumbres, and moving rapidly forward in history, the story of "The Little Train That Would Not Die" creates a tale of the West seldom told today. While some of it was lived out in the 1800s, the major portion of this book centers around the heroic efforts of ordinary men accomplishing the impossible through ordinary means in the 1960s and 1970s. It is a story packed with action, adventure and passion that interweaves with the lives of General William J. Palmer, Bat Masterson, and singing star, Gene Autry. But most of all it is a passionate tale of the lives of men who dared to dream big and found success even when the deck was stacked against them. They were train buffs, steam fans, senators, family men. They were men who saw a piece of Americana slipping away and they were damned if they were going to let that happen. Like my father said, "they were the most over enthusiastic, unbusiness-like fools that ever set foot in shoe leather", but they got the job done and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is their living monument of hope to future generations. This is their story, but it's also mine. As a 9 year old girl, I rode on the Cumbres & Toltec when it first started out. By the time I was 14 years old, I was drummed into Engine 463's "boiler maker corps" working along side my dad and three other guys, forever losing my heart to that little engine. I remember the blisters and aching muscles, the heart ache and joy. It is my hope that a piece of that has been capture on these pages and that this train will go to future generations forever being "The Little Train That Would Not Die".