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Trains Album of Photographs #4 Colorado Railroads Spiral Bound 1943 22 single si
Trains Album of Photographs #4 Colorado Railroads Spiral Bound 1943
22 single side pages of photos. Measures approx. 10 X 14 inches.
Here's the photo story of winding narrow gauge, thunderingstandard gauge, in the land of the Rockies
COLORADO is the state of small gauges and big mountains, a state where the grandeur of heavy railroad operations contrasts with the picturesqueness of narrow-gauge trains winding through canyons hardly suitable for wagon trails.
We think of Colorado as a mountain state, as the top of the Rockies, but it is also a state of flat grazing and farm lands. Roughly, the eastern half is plain, the western half mountain. In the eastern half are the railroads from the Midwest to the state's big cities: Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo. These are the granger roads, hardly associated with the Colorado of the mountains. The Rock Island, the Burlington, the Missouri Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Santa Fe send their arteries into Colorado to tap the dis tributing centers at the east edge of the mountains.
But at the foot of the mountains start the railroads we know as Colorado's own: the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the Denver & Salt Lake (the Moffat Road), and the Colorado lines of Colorado & Southern. Right through the mountains are flung two transcontinental main lines reaching west toward Salt Lake City - the Royal Gorge Route of the D&RGW, once narrow-gauge, and the Moffat Tunnel-Dotsero Cutoff Route of the same road, newest of the transcontinentals.
It is a far cry from the historic battle for right of way in the Royal Gorge to the building of the Moffat Tunnel Route, hardly a decade ago, but Colorado covers that span.
No sight is quite as nerve-tingling as huge locomotives working in unison to lift long, heavy trains up mountain grades. There is plenty of that in Colorado. But there is not only the spirit of railroads present, but of railroads past. Colorado is a land of high mountain passes, and over every one of its mountain passes a railroad stem was projected. Many of these were built, but few are still running. The Colorado & Southern's narrow-gauge South Park line once ran over Kenosha Pass, Boreas Pass, and Fremont Pass to Leadville, and over Alpine Pass to Gunnison. Traces of the line are still easy to follow and a remnant is still operating near Denver. The Georgetown Loop, one-time scenic attraction, was abandoned not so long ago on the narrow-gauge line to Silver Plume. Where the Moffat Tunnel now burrows for six miles beneath James Peak, the D&SL once toiled over the almost-perpetual snows of Rollins Pass, more than two miles above sea level. The old roadbeds of all of these lines can still be followed.
The narrow-gauge loop of some 530 miles in the heart of the Colorado Rockies was once a tour in itself, a sidetrip necessity on any tourist ticket. The track is still there, with freight service over all its length and much of it can still be made by train to recapture the flavor of the narrow-gauge passenger train. Four engined freights still climb Marshall Pass, once the main line between Denver and Salt Lake City. The little narrow-gauge engines work in the yard at Salida, where one can see them from the observation platform of the mainline Scenic Limited.
In this album we have combined the nostalgic yesterday of Colorado railroads with the exciting today: the glistening Exposition Flyer and heavy manifest freights, the now-discontinued Shavano of the narrow-gauge and the practical Galloping Geese of the Rio Grande Southern. The pictures are the story. We know you will enjoy them, and the unique way in which they are presented. Our sincere appreciation to the photographers who cooperated in making this book possible.
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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