Rio Grande Pacific To Lease Tennessee Pass Route

One last post to close out 2020. And boy, is it big news!

A group known as Rio Grande Pacific is going to lease the Tennessee Pass Route from Union Pacific. Both Trains and Railfan & Railroad announced the news today. 

Railfan & Railroad stated,

According to a press release, Rio Grande Pacific subsidiary, Colorado Midland & Pacific Railway (CMP), will lease a majority of the line and file for common-carrier authority with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to operate it. Officials said that CMP will “assess the interest of the communities served by the Tennessee Pass line” for both freight and passenger service. 

Trains followed with more details from the STB filing:

The Colorado Midland & Pacific filing to the STB says the railroad will lease 163.1 miles of the line between milepost 171.9 at Parkdale, Colo., and Milepost 335.0 near Sage, Colo., and that it projects the railroad’s annual revenue will not exceed $5 million. The portion of the line east of Parkdale is currently operated by short line Rock & Rail, and also hosts the Royal Gorge Route Railroad tourist operation.

Rio Grande Pacific is based out of Benbrook, a suburb of Ft. Worth, Texas. 

With no traffic over the railroad for over 20 years now, my guess is that at least three months are going to be spent rehabilitating the line. The line has been stripped of most of its copper and any other valuable metals by vandals during the gap in operations. It's more likely, with the new PTC standards, that the entire line will be rewired. 

Questions about passenger service and other meaningful commodities still need to be assessed by the new company, but their associated transit company would certainly be involved. Commuter service to Dowd Junction for Vail would certainly bring a great deal of help for those who work in the ski industry and the associated services like food and hospitality. It may eventually even raise property values all along the line to accommodate those workers. The Vail news site Real Vail has more on these contingencies.

Stay tuned!⚒

Video: Alpine Tunnel by Drone

One area of lasting interest by railfans and historians in Colorado is Alpine Tunnel. Built by the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad in 1881, it connected Denver and locally Leadville with Gunnison, reaching the station on the west side of town in 1882.¹ Crossing beneath the Continental Divide, the tunnel carried traffic in all seasons until the line was abandoned just 28 years later in 1910 by the Colorado & Southern after a partial cave-in. The Denver & Rio Grande, having connected Denver to Leadville and across Marshall Pass to Gunnison, had siphoned away most of the business between these points. 

This video by YouTube member Searching for the C&S narrow gauge is of such good quality, I had to share it. It has almost a Google Earth-like quality to it, showing the west portal and climbing high to peek over the Continental Divide at the approach to east portal while remaining over the west side. It is a unique and compelling viewpoint that until recently was impossible to get in such detail and resolution. Frankly, I was amazed to see so little vibration or wind for such a high and weather-intense location.

As you can see from the video above and this look at the east portal, the portals have both collapsed long ago, sealing off the tunnel itself from any would-be explorers. Nonetheless, the site attracts visitors from June into September each year. All other times, it is covered in snow, often dozens of feet deep. ⚒

¹ Colorado Railroads by Tivis Wilkins, Pruett Publishing

Class 1 Railroading in 1982

The illustrious David P. Morgan, longtime editor of Trains Magazine wrote towards the end of his time in 1982 about what constitutes a Class 1 Railroad in the United States. In 2020, we have just 5 railroads functioning in a semi-national capacity. In 1982, it was a much more interesting question. 

His January 1982 column, "How Many Class 1s?" states, 

For all practical purposes, there are officially 39 railroads in the United States. . . .  [They] employ 92 per cent of American railroaders, operate 94 per cent of rail mileage, and handle 98 per cent of rail traffic. These 39 are the Class 1 (annual gross revenues of 50 million dollars or more) line-haul railroads

Of the roads he goes on to list, fully 7 of them were active in Colorado at the time of his writing: 

• Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
• Burlington Northern 
• Colorado & Southern 
• Denver & Rio Grande Western
• Missouri Pacific (soon to merge with UP)
• National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
• Union Pacific

Morgan continued his analysis, weeding out railroads like the C&S, which would be absorbed into BN later that year and concluded, "Now we have, in effect 17 Class 1's--less than half the number we started with..." Burlington Northern, Rio Grande, Santa Fe, Union Pacific were the Colorado railroads included. He reduced the number even further by saying "75 per cent of the Class 1 route-miles of the country are controlled, or predictably will be, by just seven camps:" ATSF, BN and UP were in Colorado at the time. He concludes, 

In sum, we have far fewer railroads in the U.S. than the number that appears at first blush, although in terms of the world (2 roads in Canada, 1 in Mexico, and of course 1 each in France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, U.K., etc.) we have a distance to go, particularly in view of the fact that 154 years after B&O's charter we still do not possess rails under one flag linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Well sir, if you're looking for a monolithic rail structure in America, it still hasn't arrived 38 years later, a whopping 192 years in total! Although, thanks to a round of mergers in the 1990s, we have today 2 Class 1 freight railroads in Colorado. Neither of which seem to have a vested interest in the state as the Rio Grande did back in 1982. ⚒

Wrinn: Rio Grande Southern 20 and the Long Slow Road To Steam

Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains Magazine recently talked shop about Rio Grande Southern engine 20 and what the expectations are with the restoration. Let's face it: The engine has been in "restoration" since George W. Bush was in office. Will we see it in steam soon? It could happen next year. 

The Colorado Railroad Museum is restoring a legendary Centennial State narrow gauge locomotive to operation. Rio Grande Southern No. 20, a 3-foot gauge 4-6-0 built in 1899 for the Florence & Cripple Creek and last run in 1951 when the RGS shut down, is nearing completion. Schenectady Locomotive Works built the engine, and the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club saved the engine. In 2006, the club transferred ownership to the museum, and a significant donation began a restoration the following year. For 12 years, the engine was under restoration at Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road, and it returned last June for final assembly. The $1.5 million restoration is one of the most remarkable in the annals of American railway preservation. We checked in with Colorado Railroad Museum Curator of Rolling Stock & Equipment Jeff Taylor earlier this week. Here’s our Q&A with Trains.

Jim's blog continues at Trains.⚒

Denver's Welcome Mizpah Arch

Before "Blucifer the demon horse" of DIA neighed its welcome (of sorts) to visitors driving in and out of the world's largest airport, there was a public art installation that welcomed Denver's visitors in a singularly unique way that has never been duplicated since. Denver's Welcome Arch, also known as the Mizpah Arch, stood for years a century ago outside Denver's Union Station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets.

Photo: DPL-WHG

Dedicated on Independence Day, July 4, 1906, the arch was "to stand for the ages as an expression of the love, good wishes, and kind feeling of the citizens to the stranger who enters our gates," according to Mayor Robert Speer. On installation, both sides read "WELCOME" in big bold letters. After the dedication, it seemed that folks approaching the station from the city were being welcomed to leave. Rather than leave that parting impression of good riddance, the letters on the city's side of the arch were changed in 1908. Rather than say goodbye or the like, which again could be a dubious parting word, the word selected was "MIZPAH," a salutation in Hebrew taken from Genesis 31:49, which says,

It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other...

The idea was to invoke a blessing on those saying goodbye to Denver and a hope of a return.

Photo: DPL-WHG

History of the arch itself is not very plentiful, but Denver's Railroads by Forrest and Albi has a small section from which a lot of this post is based. The arch had a double tracked Denver Tramway line passing through it from the outset. When the second terminal building was obliterated in September 1914 to make room for the current structure, the track was apparently re-routed to the west. The entire arch was supposed to be removed with construction of the center terminal, but it stayed on for 15 more years, and in the 20s was lit with electric lights in keeping with the times.

During its brief existence, the arch was not above being used for commercial use. Of note, the Struby-Estabrook Mercantile Company, before national--let alone international--grocery chains, used the Welcome Arch as a trademark for its line of products. Everything from macaroni to coffee and tea to oats and canned goods rolled out the doors of the mercantile stores with a likeness of the arch on it.

Alas, by 1929, the arch was showing its age. It had not been well maintained, and with the stock market crash that October and the ensuing Great Depression, an overhaul was not in the cards. Charles D. Vail (of Vail Pass), working for the city at the time, wrote that the arch would have to be completely rebuilt if it were to stay in the same spot, and as Vail had seen the future of Colorado in the automobile, the arch was cited as a traffic hazard and a blight on the station. The arch was removed at the city's expense on December 6, 1931.

It has not been completely forgotten, either. I remember my friend Ira, a New Yorker and proud Jew pointing to signs in a newly revitalized LoDo after a Colorado Rockies game emblazoned with Mizpah as a nod to the arch 70 years after its passing. It's a good memory of a friend now long past.⚒

The Beginning of the End for UP 3985

Challenger 3985 charges south with the Circus Train toward Denver September 28, 2010
Photo: John H. Hill

While fans of the Union Pacific come down from the high of their inaugural season of Big Boy 4014, it cannot be all good news coming from Cheyenne, the heart of UP Steam just over the border in Wyoming. UP announced their intention to retire Challenger-type 3985, the other articulated steam locomotive inhabiting the UP Steam shops.

Built in July 1943 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and retired by UP in 1962, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger was restored as a volunteer-initiated project back in 1979. Returned to service with UP in April 1981 and converted to oil in 1990, it held the title of world's largest operating steam locomotive until the return of Big Boy 4014 in May 2019, although its last active run was in October 2010.

Why not keep her running? Apart from UP Steam having its hands full with 844 and 4014, the other two big steam engines, 3985 was looking at a long and extensive restoration. According to Kevin P. Keefe, "Such are the consequences of running the wheels off it," since its return to service. Weighing this against the decreased demand, there's just not that much reason to keep her active.

Nonetheless, any time a steamer goes silent, it's a sad day for the railfan. Like Keefe, I feel a need to honor the Challenger. Keefe says,

With all due respect to N&W 2-6-6-4 No. 1218 and its brethren, I can’t see how UP’s 4-6-6-4s cannot be considered the world’s most successful simple articulateds, given their sterling dual-service operational record on UP, not to mention how they begat near-carbon-copies on Clinchfield, D&H, Northern Pacific, and SP&S.

Those near-carbon-copies on Clinchfield? They were delivered to the Rio Grande as their L-97 class, numbered 3800-3805 in May and June 1943. They served until 1947 when the D&RGW sold them to the Clinchfield, renumbering them 670-675.¹ The Rio Grande didn't actually want the Challengers, either. They wanted 5 more Baldwin 4-6-6-4s (Class L-105), but the War Production board assigned the Alcos by tacking them on to the Union Pacific's order. The Rio Grande opted not to buy them, instead leasing them from the Defense Plant Corporation. They were, in 1943, the last new steam engines the Rio Grande ever received.² So, for many born after 1950, the Challenger a way for us to witness, perhaps unwittingly, the Rio Grande's main line steam in the post-war years.

Let us remember perhaps the most important aspect of the Challenger's story: the volunteer initiative to restore it to service. Few at Union Pacific saw the advantages of full restoration except these volunteers. The uses of old steamers was limited to park centerpieces to bolster civic pride. The public perception was that railroads were profit-shy and mired in regulation and bureaucracy. Additionally, eight years earlier, Amtrak had removed the last point of contact of the Union Pacific with the American public. Aside from delaying drivers at grade crossings, there was no reminder to the public of the services the railroad provided to the public. It's not a huge stretch to say that without the volunteers stepping forward, Union Pacific's public image would be far less than it is today.

While an ending, this is not necessarily the utter end for 3985. Challenger will sit in the Cheyenne roundhouse alongside her stablemates for the foreseeable future. It costs very little to preserve a steam locomotive already sheltered from the elements. Perchance it might cost little more if a slow, paced restoration was quietly undertaken? Perhaps in another 20 years, we may see the need for three steam locomotives in the steam program. It's always a possibility, especially if UP continues using steam to power its public relations.⚒

References
¹ Locomotives of the Rio Grande by the Colorado Railroad Museum p.59
² Rio Grande: To the Pacific! by Robert LaMassena p.160

UP Steam #3985 Fact Sheet
Wikipedia

Wrinn: The End of the Beginning For UP 4014

Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains Magazine, puts a bow on the opening year of the UP Steam Big Boy era in his blog post. Despite the pains Precision Scheduled Railroading is causing UP, a public relations juggernaut in the shape of a 4-8-8-4 is affecting all who fall within its shadow. Who knows what the future holds for this mammoth goodwill ambassador? ⚒

Photo: BUFFIE

RTD Looks To Cut Services In Spring But Will Fix Come Too Late?

UPDATE: 12/9/19 via Denver Post: Any solution RTD may implement will not come until spring. Meanwhile "They want to just show up and have their trip,” RTD General Manager Dave Genova said of passengers.

RTD Failing To Protect Drivers and Riders Amid Growth

Published originally Thursday, October 24, 2019:

Sometimes growth and change isn't pretty, but with RTD, it can be downright ugly. Engineers of Denver's Light Rail have finally opened up to say they're fed up with long, grueling shifts, six-day work weeks, and careless disregard by management. Most people can relate to having worked a long shift once in a while, but the current manpower shortage at RTD goes beyond the occasional extra overtime. Engineers of trains report making mistakes directly attributable to their being on the clock for more than 12 hours, a condition that is illegal for engineers of freight railroads. Innumerable studies have been done showing the detrimental effects of overwork, long shifts and extended work weeks.

Fear of retribution has kept engineers from openly speaking out about the problems, but concerns about safety for the engineers and their riders have prompted them to come to the media to seek change. "[We are] not safe. We're all worked to death," one engineer said anonymously.

Jeffrey Beall

RTD engineers in the course of their duty are expected to drive their light rail trains through crowded city streets, over grade crossings and next to highways and roads throughout the Denver metropolitan area, in situations requiring attention, caution, and awareness, attributes that are dulled and even nullified by fatigue and exhaustion. Just as a tired driver of a truck or other vehicle is a danger to themselves and the others around them, engineers who are tired can make operational mistakes costing time, money, and even human lives. For example, an engineer who is inattentive--even momentarily--could miss a signal and plow their massive light rail train through a crowded intersection, causing destruction and manslaughter. Another example, an engineer could take his train through a sharp turn (like the one near Colfax and Auraria) meant for a train going 10 miles per hour at a speed of 50 miles per hour or more, causing a tragedy not unlike the 2015 Philadelphia Train Derailment that took the lives of 7 people.

Employee turnover and a general feeling of disrespect and resentment are not helping matters. Though a spokesperson expressed managements' awareness of the issue, they did not present specifics on efforts to remedy the situation. All of this occurs as RTD ridership plummets.

Opinion

Clearly, RTD is not taking the situation as seriously as its engineers. If they were, they would take effective steps to find and employ the engineers necessary to meet the needs of Denver's riders. Offering competitive compensation packages, incentives and training for applicants would go a long way toward resolving this problem, along with improving the work environment for their current engineers. Until they do, RTD and Denver are courting tragedy of the worst kind. ⚒

POTD - Electric Wig Wag Lights A Lonely Crossing Under A Distant Moon

Lonely Vigil

You've driven hours on miles and miles of lonely two-lane highway to reach a lonely, seemingly forgotten county road crossing on the open plain of eastern Colorado. The wind stirs and a bite in the air tells you that you are not so far from another winter's chill. You smell the hint of agriculture, and it seems a feed lot must not be too far away. But the air also carries a bit of juniper from Devil's Canyon from the north and west.

You feel it before you see it. A slight hum in the rails and then a flash of a beam cuts through the night. Within moments, the bell and the light activate at the crossing, though it's just you it warns as it wags almost lazily back and forth in time with the bell. A second or two later, the Southwest Chief is upon the crossing. A blast of wind and a whiff of diesel, a blur of streaking lights, chrome and steel wheels, it flies over the rails!

Photo of the Day: Jadon H.

All too quickly, the end of the train flashes past and the marker lights recede around the corner, taking one of the slight bends in this straight line part of the state. The signal stops, its job accomplished for the night. It will not see the next train, the westbound Chief for hours. The moon passes behind the crossbucks and you see again the myriad of stars and galaxies wheeling slowly onward above. A meteor, like the Chief, flashes for a brief second and is gone, swallowed up in the night. You turn for your vehicle. Suddenly, a warm mug and a soft bed don't sound so bad right now. ⚒

POTD - Early Fall Evening Paints The Southwest Chief With Subtle Hues

The route presently served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief has survived the nationalization of passenger service, service cutbacks, meal cutbacks, and maintenance funding impasses to become one of the most popular trains, certainly in the west and perhaps the entire system. The ongoing challenge will be to keep the present Mountain route while still expanding connections to Pueblo and up the Front Range to Colorado Springs, Denver, and Fort Collins.

Photo of the Day: Jadon H.

RailPictures.Net photographer Jadon H. has ventured out of Texas to southeastern Colorado to deliver some first class photos of Southwest Chief. The eastbound Amtrak #4 descends into Trinidad from Raton Pass and the highest point on the former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe system. Passing in front of Fishers Peak, the eastern skies turn the finest southwestern pastels as the day comes to a close, reflected in the silver Superliner cars. The long descent across the prairie beckons the P42 DCs on into the night. ⚒

Denver & Rio Grande Engine 168 Fired and Steaming Up For a Big 2020 Celebration

For the first time since most of us were born, narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande steam engine 168 turned her wheels under steam. Trains Magazine reports,

On Friday night, 3-foot gauge Denver & Rio Grande 4-6-0 No. 168 ran for the first time in 70 years, following an extensive restoration at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Friday’s test run consisted of a brief trip around the Antonito yard. C&TS Assistant General Manager Stathi Pappas says the 136-year-old Baldwin locomotive was being fired up again on Monday for another test. 

“The test went great,” Pappas says of the locomotive’s first run since 1938.

Engine 168 in Black Canyon
 of the Gunnison in 1904

The engine will be matched with purpose-built replica passenger cars to roll behind her in what will likely be a very memorable 50 year-anniversary celebration of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico teamed together to purchase the narrow gauge segment of the San Juan Extension that runs between Antonito Colorado and Chama New Mexico when it appeared certain that the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad was abandoning the line. Since then, a six-member commission led by both states has supervised the investment in the C&TS, with an emphasis in history and preservation, something with which the restoration of engine 168 falls right in line. Having an active volunteer organization dedicated to assisting that mission with hands and feet, hearts and minds doesn't hurt, either.

Engine 168 is an important historic artifact to Colorado and to railroading. While it's a steam engine, something that last roamed the rails en masse 70 years ago, it's also narrow gauge, designed to run on rails 3 feet apart, rather than the standard 4 feet 8½ inches apart. There are dozens of these narrow gauge engines in the state of Colorado already, and they're all worthy of preservation. What makes 168 so unique is that it is one of two surviving class T-12 locomotives built in 1883 for General William Palmer's original vision of the D&RG connecting Denver with El Paso and Mexico City.

168 Awaiting President Taft in Montrose, 1909

The Rio Grande never reached further south than Santa Fe, but the engine would go on to haul passengers throughout the state and beyond. One of its more important roles was to carry then-President William Taft to the opening of the Gunnison Tunnel, a record-length water supply tunnel that turned the land around Montrose into a veritable garden beginning in 1909.

As railroads around the state prepare to rest or at least scale back activities for the winter, it's worth contemplating how many engines are now in steam that were dry and static several years ago. Certainly, such a recounting is worth its own post! ⚒

Fall Colors Return to the Rails of Colorado

Kids are back in school. Football is rolling into stadiums. The summer heat is fading into a warm autumn. Pretty soon, we will see the first hints of fall colors in the only state with color in its name: Colorado.

As a photographer, I love and hate driving a car in the mountains. It's s beautiful and challenging and yet, there's no way for me to actually enjoy the beautiful vistas and dramatic, vibrant aspens. Taking a train is the best solution to let everyone enjoy the views while still keeping the parade of Rocky Mountain gold moving. If you haven't booked tickets for a train ride through the fall colors, you still have a chance. Here are a few options.

Georgetown Loop Railroad 

Farthest north in our list and therefore first to turn that glorious gold, the far-famed Loop is a fine addition to anyone's trip up Clear Creek. The aspens around Georgetown and Silver Plume are legendary, especially up the former grade of the Argentine Central. The only downside: the equally legendary traffic on I-70. Better on a weekday, ideally a Tuesday or Wednesday

Leadville Colorado & Southern

If steam is not as big a deal for you, the LC&S has an opportunity for a trip to near-timberline. While aspens are not nearly as numerous, the opportunity for closeups and wildlife are increasing. The trip up the nice side of Fremont Pass is an enjoyable one. Were it able to go all the way to the summit, it would certainly rank among the best.

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad

Steam and diesel both make the trek over La Veta Pass and aspen and buckbrush are available. Most of the climb is isolated from any road, allowing for a sense of true exploration and yet the standard gauge rails allow for full-size accommodations. Although most seats are under or behind glass, an open air car usually allows for great photo opportunities. A recent wildfire damaged the facilities at the summit of the pass, so what is there is brand new!

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

Photo: Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

There is one narrow gauge railroad route that takes riders further and higher than the others: The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. Starting in Antonito, Colorado or Chama, New Mexico, the train climbs over Cumbres Pass from both directions daily, passing through stands of aspen on both sides of the state border it hopscotches, scraping every contour for every bit of grade needed to summit the pass. Several sections are rail isolated and the coal fired steam is every bit the railroad experience you hope for and a fall color paradise late in the season! There are plenty of reasons USA Today readers voted it the best scenic ride in the country!

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

There is only one line that has never stopped hauling passengers over its narrow gauge rails. Since 1882, the Denver & Rio Grande Western and now the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroads have taken passengers up the Rio de las Animas between the former milling town of Durango and the remote mining town of Silverton, Colorado. The deep chasms of the San Juan mountains still turn gold with aspens as if to match the Grande gold of the cars of the splendid little train. Stuffy coaches, open air gondolas or even the Silver Vista glass dome car still ply their trade and regularly rock over the rails as ever they did.

Honorable Mention: California Zephyr 
It may cut through the most amazing scenery on the entire Amtrak system, and aspens may run riot through every canyon, but until you can (legally) pry your Superliner window open for an unfiltered photo or plant a seat in the vestibule, the CalZ is not your ideal way to see the colors.⚒