Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver and Ogden, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
The Rio Grande was a strong example of mountain railroading, with a motto of Through the Rockies, not around them and later Main line through the Rockies, both referring to the Rocky Mountains.
The D&RGW operated the highest mainline rail line in the United States, over the Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and the famed routes through the Moffat Tunnel and the Royal Gorge. At its height, in 1889, the D&RGW had the largest narrow-gauge railroad network in North America with of track interconnecting the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Known for its independence, the D&RGW operated the Rio Grande Zephyr until its discontinuation in 1983. This was the last private intercity passenger train in the United States until Brightline began service in Florida in 2018.
In 1988, the Rio Grande's parent corporation, Rio Grande Industries, purchased Southern Pacific Transportation Company, and as the result of a merger, the larger Southern Pacific Railroad name was chosen for identity. The Rio Grande operated as a separate division of the Southern Pacific until 1992. Today, most former D&RGW main lines are owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad while several branch lines are now operated as heritage railways by various companies.
History
Overview
The Denver & Rio Grande Railway was incorporated on October27, 1870, by General William Jackson Palmer, and a board of four directors. It was originally announced that the new railroad would proceed south from Denver and travel an estimated south to El Paso via Pueblo, westward along the Arkansas River, and continue southward through the San Luis Valley of Colorado toward the Rio Grande. Closely assisted by his friend and new business partner Dr. William Bell, Palmer's new "Baby Road" laid the first rails out of Denver on July28, 1871, and reached the location of the new town of Colorado Springs by October21. Narrow gauge was chosen in part because construction and equipment costs would be relatively more affordable when weighed against that of the prevailing standard gauge. Palmer's first hand impressions of the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales buoyed his interest in the narrow-gauge concept which would prove to be advantageous while conquering the mountainous regions of the Southwest. Eventually the route of the D&RG would be amended and added to as new opportunities and competition challenged the railroad's expanding goals.Feverish, competitive construction plans provoked the 1877–1880 war over right of way with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Both rivals hired gunslingers and bought politicians while courts intervened to bring settlement to the disagreements. One anecdote of the conflict recounts June, 1879, when the Santa Fe defended its roundhouse in Pueblo with Dodge City toughs led by Bat Masterson; on that occasion, D&RG treasurer R. F. Weitbrec paid the defenders to leave. In March, 1880, a Boston Court granted the AT&SF the rights to Raton Pass, while the D&RG paid an exorbitant $1.4million for the trackage extending through the Arkansas River's Royal Gorge. The D&RG's possession of this route allowed quick access to the booming mining district of Leadville, Colorado. While this "Treaty of Boston" did not exactly favor the purest of original D&RG intentions, the conquering of new mining settlements to the west and the future opportunity to expand into Utah was realized from this settlement.
By late 1880, William Bell had begun to organize railway construction in Utah that would become the Palmer controlled Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in mid-1881. The intention of the D&RGW was to work eastward from Provo to an eventual link with westward bound D&RG in Colorado. This physical connection was realized near the Green River on March30, 1883, and by May of that year the D&RG formally leased its Utah subsidiary as previously planned. By mid-1883, financial difficulties due to aggressive growth and expenditures led to a shake up among the D&RG board of directors, and General Palmer resigned as president of the D&RG in August, 1883, while retaining that position with the Western. Frederick Lovejoy would soon fill Palmer's vacated seat on the D&RG, the first in a succession of post Palmer presidents that would attempt to direct the railroad through future struggles and successes.
Following bitter conflict with the Rio Grande Western during lease disagreements and continued financial struggles, the D&RG went into receivership in July, 1884, with court-appointed receiver William S. Jackson in control. Eventual foreclosure and sale of the original Denver & Rio Grande Railway resulted within two years, and the new Denver & Rio Grande Railroad took formal control of the property and holdings on July14, 1886, with Jackson appointed as president. General Palmer would continue as president of the Utah line until retirement in 1901.
Throughout the railroad's history its primary heavy repair shops were located south of Denver, Colorado, in Burnham. They were built in 1871 and equipped to service both narrow gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. In 1922 the site received $3 million in upgrades, expanding the capacity to repair locomotives and cars. The last steam locomotive was serviced in 1956, at which time the locomotive department was converted to service diesel engines. The other major back shop site was in Salt Lake City, Utah, built in 1883. The shops in Alamosa, Colorado, primarily serviced narrow gauge rolling stock.
Royal Gorge Route
The D&RG built west from Pueblo reaching Cañon City in 1874. The line through the Royal Gorge reached Salida on May 20, 1880, and was pushed to Leadville later that same year. From Salida, the D&RG pushed west over the Continental Divide at the Marshall Pass and reached Gunnison on August 6, 1881. From Gunnison the line entered the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River passing the famous Curecanti Needle seen in their famous Scenic Line of the World Herald. The tracks left the increasingly-difficult canyon at Cimmaron and passed over Cerro Summit, reaching Montrose on September 8, 1882. From Montrose, a line was laid north through Delta, reaching Grand Junction in March, 1883. The line continued building west until reaching the D&RGW close to present day Green River which completed a narrow-gauge transcontinental link with the Rio Grande Western Railway to Salt Lake City, Utah.The line from Pueblo to Leadville was upgraded in 1887 to three rails to accommodate both narrow-gauge and standard-gauge operation. Narrow-gauge branch lines were constructed to Chama, New Mexico, Durango, Silverton, Crested Butte, Lake City, Ouray and Somerset, Colorado.
The D&RG round herald featuring the words "Royal Gorge Route" was applied to rolling stock beginning in 1926. In 1936, the words "Moffat Tunnel" were added, and in 1939, it was replaced by the "Flying Rio Grande" logo.
The route over Tennessee Pass had steep grades, and it was not uncommon to see trains running with midtrain and rear-end helpers. In 1997, a year after the D&RGW/SP merger with Union Pacific, the UP closed the line. Although it has been out of service for more than two decades, the rails are still in usable condition, though many of the signals have been ravaged by time and vandals. In 2011, under a federal Beautification Grant, a private contractor removed and scrapped the railroad's overhead signal pole lines.
San Juan Extension
The D&RG also pushed west from Walsenburg, Colorado, over La Veta Pass by 1877. At the time the 'Uptop' depot on Veta Pass, rising over in elevation, boasted the highest elevation for a narrow-gauge railroad. The railroad reached Alamosa by 1878. From Alamosa, a line was pushed south through Antonito eventually reaching Santa Fe, New Mexico, and west as far as Creede, Colorado. A line containing one of the longest narrow-gauge tangent tracks in U.S. railroading also linked Alamosa with Salida to the north. From Antonito a line was built over Cumbres Pass, along the Colorado-New Mexico border, reaching Durango, Colorado, in August, 1881 and continuing north to the rich mining areas around Silverton in July, 1882. A line was also constructed in 1902 as a standard-gauge line, perhaps in anticipation of possible standard gauging of the entire line, south from Durango to Farmington, New Mexico.Part of the reason for this isolated change of gauge was that the Southern Pacific contemplated extending to access coal fields in the northern San Juan basin, had surveyors working there, and had incorporated a subsidiary, the Arizona & Colorado Railroad Company, for this purpose. As a defensive move, this may have been enough to discourage the A&C from proceeding to construction. Originally hauling mainly agricultural products, the Farmington line was converted to narrow gauge in 1923, and later delivered pipe and other construction materials to the local oil and natural gas industry into the 1960s.
Portions of the Alamosa–Durango line survive to this day. The Walsenburg–Alamosa–Antonito line survives as the standard-gauge Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad, with passenger excursion trains service provided by the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad. Two narrow-gauge segments survive as steam railroads, the Antonito–Chama line as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and Durango–Silverton as the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
Rio Grande Southern Railroad connected to San Juan Extension in Durango and went through the western edge of San Juan Mountains to Ridgway, Colorado, on Montrose–Ouray branch.