Historical Collections
HISTORICAL PHOTO COLLECTIONS
Our historic photos are comprised of twelve (12) separate collections featuring the narrow-gauge railroads of New Mexico and Colorado, with 50,000 photos. The Internet home page for the digital images is ngtrainpics.photoshelter.com. These digital images are available for viewing and purchasing/downloading. The original photos are in permanent, archival storage.
A group of devoted Friends members organized, catalogued, reviewed and scanned the original images and added metadata to each image describing it to make them searchable by date, location, railroad, equipment type, structure type, etc.
The images can be viewed and organized on the digital image WEB site for free. A user-selected set of images can be saved in a Lightbox for setting up personal slide shows. The only cost for using the images is the download cost for each image. You may purchase photos from the collections below directly from ngtrainpics.photoshelter.com for $4.95 or less each.
Below is a description of each of the collections with links directly to individual collections.
If you have questions, please contact Wes Pfarner via the DormanCollection@CumbresToltec.org email address.
If you have a historical (pre-1970) Colorado or New Mexico narrow gauge railroad photo collection that you would be interested in donating to the Friends, please contact Wes Pfarner or Tim Tennant at 505-880-1311 or email DormanCollection@CumbresToltec.org.
DORMAN COLLECTION
Richard L. Dorman (1922-2010 ) was a dedicated railroad enthusiast, model railroader and author. His 24,797 photographs are from the 1880's to the present.
ROBART COLLECTION
The late Ernie Robart (1947-2018) was a dedicated railfan and photographer from Albuquerque. We are currently in the process of cataloging the Western US narrow-gauge & US standard-gauge railroad images that are part of his 50,000+ railroad photo collection.
RHINE COLLECTION
The Stan Rhine Photo Collection consists of 7,495 photos of structures and equipment of the narrow-gauge railroads in southwest Colorado and Northern New Mexico plus standard-gauge railroads across North America.
PAYNE COLLECTION
Andrus (Andy) M. Payne (1925-2012) was a narrow-gauge engineer who worked out of Durango on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. His 2,270 photographs were taken from 1954 through 1978.
GUTH COLLECTION
The John Guth Photo Collection consists of approximately 1,237 photos of C&TS snow removal from Chama to Cumbres in the spring of the 1990s.
BERKSTRESSER COLLECTION
The late George Berkstresser (1928-2014) was a railfan whose 1,074 photographs, mostly from around Alamosa, were taken between the mid-1950s to the late 1970s.
GILDERSLEEVE COLLECTION
Thomas Gildersleeve (b. 1937) is an award- winning California photographer, published in many books and has a collection of 845 photos. He was notably present for several D&RGW winter freights in the 1960s and has taken many other photographs since then of the C&TS and D&SNG railroads.
SPERRY COLLECTION
Russell Sperry (b. 1941) is a railfan photographer from California who recorded some of the D&RGW narrow gauge operations in the 1960's, including the last freights over Cumbres Pass in August 1968. His collection of 404 photos also includes photos of the C&TS from its early days since 1970.
SPENCE COLLECTION
The photo collection of Gene R. Spence (1947-2011), a model railroader from Albuquerque, consists of 341 photos from the western narrow-gauge lines.
WEST COLLECTION
The John West Photo Collection consists of 321 images of narrow gauge on Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, as well as of the Cumbres Toltec Scenic Railroad narrow gauge.
LOWRANCE COLLECTION
Ed Lowrance (d. 2017) took photos on the D&RGW National Park Service Excursion Train at the time there was a movement for NPS to take over the D&RGW narrow gauge for historical reasons. It includes 88 images.
RUSSELL COLLECTION
The John Russell Photo Collection consists of 83 photos of Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad captured during his visits to Alamosa, CO on three different occasions: August 26, 1958; September 16, 1964; and September 25, 1994, which show the differences in the Alamosa steam locomotive yard over time.
Library
Our non-circulating library is located at the FRIENDS office in Albuquerque. We have a wealth of information covering the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Denver & Rio Grande Western. To make arrangements to access the library or request documents please email Library@cumbrestoltec.org.
Click here to Access our Library Database
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