The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TSRR) today introduced Steven Butler as its new general manager.
Butler takes over for Scott Gibbs, one of the railroad’s Colorado Commissioners who had temporarily stepped in to run day-to-day operations.
Owned jointly by the states of New Mexico and Colorado, the C&TSRR is the longest, highest, and most authentic steam railroad in America, running between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. The railroad is overseen by an interstate commission.
A life-long rail enthusiast with a passion for preserving 19th and 20th century steam trains, Butler’s family owned a railroad in the Midwest. He has experience in almost every aspect of running a steam powered tourist railroad. He has served as general manager and in other management positions, and also as a machinist, fireman, engineer and chief mechanical officer at various railroads across the U.S. Over the course of his 30+ year career, Butler has worked in management positions with Mt. Rainier Railroad & Logging Museum, Texas State Railroad, Morton Locomotive & Machine and others.
“We are thrilled that Steven will serve as the Cumbres & Toltec’s general manager,” said Billy Elbrock, Chairman of the four-member Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission. “He brings the varied expertise necessary to run both a locomotive and a railroad, from machine work to marketing. He knows this area and even worked briefly for the C&TSRR and was at our neighboring San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad in Alamosa for many years.”
Since the late 90s, he has been a member of the Train/Heritage Rail Alliance Board of Directors, the National Board of Boiler’s Inspection Code Locomotive Boiler subgroup, American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Locomotive subgroup and the Engineering Standards committee.
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ABOUT CUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RAILROAD
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad follows the original 64-miles of tracks first laid down in 1880, crossing the borders of Colorado and New Mexico 11 times, as it skirts along canyon walls through Toltec Gorge, burrows through tunnels, steams over Cascade Trestle (137-feet above a roaring river), and climbs to the top of 10,015-foot Cumbres Pass, the highest point reached by any steam railroad in North America. Traveling on the train provides the most authentic look at steam railroading in the 1880s. To book your trip and for complete information, visit: www.cumbrestoltec.com or call 1-888-286-2737.