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D&RGW: Durango to Alamosa and Salida Rocky Mountain Railroads Vol 2
Rocky Mountain Railroads, Vol 2 D&RGW: Durango to Alamosa and Salida compiled by Richard L Dorman and Bob Hayden Collectors edition
Hard Cover with dust jacket Reflections for lights on some photos
Copyright 2005
174 pages
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction4
1/ Durango5
2/ Going South and East31
3/ Chama48
4/ 4-Percent Climb to Cumbres60
5/ Tanglefoot Curve Downgrade East76
6/ Antonito87
7/ Alamosa96
8/ The Valley Line136
9/ Salida144
10/ The Monarch Branch167
Acknowledgements 172
Index172
Introduction
THIS BOOK is a pictorial journey through space and time. The geographic space is the vast region of Colorado and northern New Mexico served by the narrow gauge lines of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Ry. The time spans the nine decades that those lines connected this remote region to the commerce of the nation and the world.
Our journey begins in Durango, Colorado, the epicenter of this narrow gauge empire. Established in 1880 as the commercial center of a region rich in gold, silver, and coal, railroads soon radiated from Durango in all four compass directions.
The first railroad came from the east, the San Juan Extension of General William Jackson Palmer's mighty Denver & Rio Grande. The D&RG built over 10,000-foot Cumbres Pass, and reached Durango in July, 1881.
The lure of precious metals prompted the D&RG to build north from Durango to the boom town of Silverton. Then Otto Mears pushed the 168-mile Rio Grande Southern west from Durango in 1890.
Last to be built was the 46-mile D&RG branch south to oil and gas fields at Farmington, New Mexico, in 1905. Originally built to standard gauge, it became one of the few lines in the world ever to be converted from standard to three-foot gauge.
After we explore the D&RGW yards and facilities at Durango, we take a short trip south to Farmington before heading east on the main line, the route of the famous San Juan. Parts of this leg of our journey traverse indian country, the homes of the Southern Utes and Jicarilla Apaches. Rich in timber, coal, cattle, and sheep, these boundary lands between southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico provide a breathtaking backdrop for narrow gauge railroading, in some places reminiscent of Switzerland.
The next major stop on our eastward trip is the division point at Chama, New Mexico. Here, eastbound trains pause to take on fuel, water, fresh crews, and, usually, helper engines for the stiff climb up the western slope of Cumbres Pass.
The deep valley east of Chama reverberated to the exhausts of D&RG locomotives straining against the four percent grades to the summit at Cumbres. Stopping only for water, they conquered the hill for more than 90 years, lifting trains 10,015 feet above sea level.
We pause at Cumbres Pass to examine the railroad facilities and assess how they changed over nine decades of railroading and furious winter weather. Then we resume our eastward journey - downgrade this time - toward Antonito and Alamosa, Colorado.
This leg of the trip is also spectacular. The line follows the Los Pinos River, which meanders through lush mountain meadows before plunging into the deep Toltec Gorge.
Antonito, Colorado, is a sleepy agricultural community at the southern end of the broad and fertile San Luis Valley. Here, the narrow gauge connected with the D&RGW's standard gauge lines, and until 1941, with the narrow gauge branch to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Three-rail tracks extend east from Antonito to Alamosa, Colorado, where the railroad maintains extensive shop facilities to service locomotives and rolling stock of both gauges.
From Alamosa narrow gauge track extends northward on the D&RGW's Valley Line. This is also agricultural country, with the flat valley floor flanked on both sides by majestic mountain ranges. The line from Alamosa to Villa Grove is straight, literally - a 53-mile stretch with no curves, one of the longest tangents in the world.
The Valley Line climbs over Poncha Pass and drops down into Salida, Colorado, from the west. There it connects with the D&RG's original main line from Denver to Salt Lake City, via the Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass.
Salida, like Alamosa, includes sprawling shop facilities and a maze of three-rail trackage. Stretched out alongside the Arkansas River, these shops and enginehouses keep D&RGW equipment running.
After exploring Salida, we conclude our journey with a trip west to Poncha Junction and up the steep Monarch Branch. Here trains climb switchbacks, looping back and forth to reach a limestone quarry more than 10,000 feet above sea level. Monarch turns bring the stone to Salida, where it's transshipped into standard gauge cars and forwarded to a steel mill.
Significantly, two portions of this narrow gauge empire exist today. The three foot gauge rails of the Durango & Silverton carry passengers year round on the D&RGW's former Silverton Branch. And each summer at Chama, the steam-powered trains of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway continue to climb the hill to Cumbres and to run east to Antonito. You can still ride them - and after learning about their history in this book, you should.
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