Interpreting Steam-Era Mountain Railroading in North America: The Denver & Rio Grande-San Juan Extension

FAIN: BP-50211-10

Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, Inc. (Albuquerque, NM 87109-2523)
Tim S. Tennant (Project Director: January 2010 to December 2011)

Planning of a long-term actual exhibition and a digital exhibition about the economic and cultural significance of a historic steam-powered railroad operating in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

The Friends of the C&TSRR, a non-profit 50l(c)(3)dedicated to preserving and interpreting the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TSRR), seeks NEH funding for advancing its interpretive programs in the amount of $74,100 which would provide a substantial share of the resources required to complete the schematic design phase of a permanent exhibition planned for a proposed Railroad Visitor Center in Chama, NM; and to acquire the humanities expertise necessary to further develop and implement interpretive content and planning for this and other key sites along the C&TSRR's 64-mile route winding through the San Juan Mountains of Northern NM and Southern CO. The C&TSRR is a designated National Park Service National Historic Site. The C&TSRR, successor to the original Denver & Rio Grande Railroad-San Juan Extension built in 1880, operates today as a 64-mile "living museum" - a coal-fired, steam-powered narrow gauge railroad between Chama, NM and Antonito, CO.