The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad runs on the former Denver and Rio Grande Western line in the San Luis Valley between Alamosa and La Veta Colorado. The spectacular scenery of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains includes several 14,000+ foot peaks. The RGSR recently bought the 1910 vintage Lake Superior and Ishpeming #18 Alco 2-8-0 steam engine that was previously used by the Grand Canyon Railroad. This video is in 16X9 Widescreen format.

<p>This program highlights a Trains Unlimited Tours photo freight run. The video starts showing some scenes of #18 being painted and lettered for Rio Grande, and repairs to the whistle before it's first test run. The cold weather makes for some fantastic displays of steam when otherwise we would probably see just a clear stack. Some scenes of the ride over the pass is photographed from the caboose.

<p>Narration is minimal but informative. The photography is excellent, Peter Crook at his best. The sound is also very good – crank it up to earschplittenloudenboomer and give the sub woofer a workout with lots of stack talk and slipping drivers on the steep climb to the pass. The kids will probably like this video for all the smoke and the loud whistle, bell and stack talk. This video is a <i>MUST HAVE</i> for both Rio Grande fans and modern steam fans.