22-12-17 PHOTOS: Salida

Once again I managed to find the time to explore the defunct DRG&W Tennessee Pass Line while on one of my annual trips to Colorado. I had previously visited the area in April of 2021, but as is often the case, I overlooked a couple of accessible signal locations so it came down to finding a mechanism to get my friends to drive the 5 hour round trip from our base in Evergreen. The solution came by surreptitiously arranging a "brewery tour" around the tourist/artist community of Salida, Colorado that just happened to align with the aforementioned missed railroad locations. Unfortunately out of service rail lines don't tend to feature many train movements, however I was able to pop by the Peoria RTD station to pad out the content that can be seen here ( mirror ).

Departing Amtrak's BWI Airport Rail Station Airport I spotted Southwest's New Mexico heritage unit at the new terminal A.

Salida, Colorado was the northeastern interchange point for the Denver, Rio Grande and Western's narrow gauge network. Until the 1960's, what was mostly mineral traffic would be transferred off narrow gauge, steam powered freight trains to the DRGW's Tennessee Pass main line at a yard located at the base of Tenderfoot Hill in Salida.

After the termination of narrow gauge ops, the yard at Salida continued to serve local industry including this limestone processing facility that was build adjacent to the east end of the yard.

After Union Pacific engineered an underhanded merger to gain control of the Southern Pacific and DRGW in the mid-1990's, it immediately shut down the Tennessee Pass route connecting Pueblo and Salt Lake City as it was surplus to requirements. However as the Union Pacific did not want to expose itself to competition it has held the line out of service ever since as opposed to selling or abandoning it. This has had the effect of preserving the 1960's vintage CTC signaling system such as this mast with hooded GRS Type D signals at EE SALIDA.

The proximity to town has resulted in the equipment at EE SALIDA being more exposed to infrastructure explorers, but there was been surprisingly little wanton destruction and all the glass lenses were intact.

Manipulating the rear doors on the signal made it possible to simulate a Clear main track signal indication in the eastbound direction.

View of the rusting Salida Yard looking westbound with Mt Princeton off in the distance.

The Sawatch Range overlooks the Tennessee Pass Line valley to the west.

Although I had already visited the west end of Salida yard in 2021, I took a moment to check back in and found the same old GRS model 5D switch machine amongst some higher weeds.

Unfortunately because of the booming local real estate market an enterprising vagrant had dumped out the contents of the relay hut and taken up residence.

Elevation Brewing Co off US 50 west of town was built right on the old DRGW narrow gauge RoW which now serves as a cycling path.

21-12-17 PHOTOS: Fraser Winter Park

In 2021, although I had already been to Denver once, my friend had some expiring airline benefits and we decided to go again before the end of the year. This time we looked at a map and figured we could visit the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park, which, during the winter months, is not directly accessible from the eastern side that we had previously visited in 2020. Although both sides of the park are kinda blah in winter, a trip to the western side would take my party past the Moffat Tunnel route Amtrak stations of Granby and Fraser-Winter Park. In addition to those railfanning opportunities, I also had the occasion to ride the Denver RTD Light Rail "W" line that is often recommended for its great scenery. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

Starting out in Granby it was some time before either California Zephyr Trains 5 or 6 would pass, so I figured I would just grab some photos of the station and platform.

Suddenly from out of the blue, an eastbound Union Pacific manifest train appeared with AC4400 #6303, AC4400 #7225 and SD70ACe #3059 in the front and AC's4400 #7047 and #7206 pushing on the rear.

 

A new Granby station building had been recently built, but was not yet open for passengers.

Although the Winter Park ski resort has its own station for Ski Train use, regular Amtrak Trains 5 and 6 use the stop at Fraser, CO, about 4 miles to the south.

Although the detached station building is a bit hum drum, it has the coolest door art of any Amtrak station.

As train #6 approached, a pair of kids appeared with a cart selling $1 drinks and snacks. Apparently the concession is passed down from one family to another as the children age out.

The engineer on Amtrak P42DC #22 gave the kids some horn as Train 6 pulled into the station.

P42DC #22 was paired up with P42DC #152.

Fraser-Winter Park, like Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs is an extended "smoking" stop due to the amount of time it takes to cross western Colorado.

With a clear signal at EE FRASER Amtrak Train 6 departed, sounding the horn for Eisenhower Ave. At over 8500 feet, these engines are working hard on the ascending grade to the Moffat Tunnel summit located at over 9000 feet.



Jumping back to Denver, I caught a train of RTD SD100/160 LRVs on the towntown loop at the 16th and California station with #214 and United wrapped #218.

Union Station was seeing quite a bit more action with Silverliner V trains on the A, B, G and N routings now terminating there. When I walked through early on a Sunday morning, a single married pair with #4037 was sitting on track 8 I think waiting for a B Line departure to Westminster.

My plan was to catch an 'E' Line train to Auraria Station and then change to a 'W' Line train there. I arrived at the light rail part of Union Station just in time for an 'E' route train to leave as I stepped up.



Here is the 'E' line LRV that I eventually caught. #285 was leading two others.

RTD LRV's #333, #288, #310 and #219 at Auraria.

Some of the 'W' Line scenery crossing US Route 6 west of downtown.

RTD LRV #319 and #232 at the terminus of the 'W' Line at the Golden-Jefferson County station before departing back towards downtown Denver.

In addition to all of the rail vehicles there were lots and lots of Mule Deer.

Back at the airport I got another head end video from the Denver International Airport peoplemover.



And that wraps it up for my 2021 holiday season trip to Denver. I hope you all enjoyed the photos. Next week I'll be back with some content of R32 subbing in for the usual holiday train.

20-11-08 PHOTOS: Winter Park

After visiting the eastern portal of the Moffatt Tunnel back in July 2020, upon my next visit to Colorado I made plans to visit the western portal which just happens to be located at the site of the Winter Park Resort rail station, western terminus of the famed Denver Ski Train, where some luck and timing allowed me to catch the westbound run of Amtrak's California Zephyr. Later that weekend I had some extra time to visit the new Denver RTD commuter rail stations at 41st-Fox and Denver International Airport. These and other Denver related photos can be seen upon visiting the entire gallery located here ( mirror ).

The Winter Park Resort station has served as the terminus of the Denver Ski Train since the days of the Denver, Rio Grande and Western Railroad. After issues with insurance and the Great Recession caused an extended hiatus between 2008 and 2014, the Ski train officially returned as an annual Amtrak sponsored event in 2017. Demand was such that a fresh platform was constructed at the Winter Park Resort terminus to better support the ridership. Fun fact, this is the highest point on the Amtrak network at 9300 feet.

The reason for the Ski Train's popularity is the proximity to the ski lifts at the Winter Park resort and the limited highway capacity dictated by the mountainous terrain. If the Berthoud Pass or I-70 are blocked or congested the only alternate routes in the winter are a 190 trip via South Park or a whopping 260 mile detour via Fort Collins.

As a plus, the station platform is located directly adjacent to the western portal of the Stephen Moffatt Tunnel. While not as involved as the eastern portal with its crazy fan plant, it is still treated with the same marquee label and dates. At 6.2 miles in length it is not the longest tunnel in North America, but it is pretty important cutting many miles off the previous Tennessee Pass route and delivering water to the City of Denver.

The western portal area is equipped with anti-intruder sensors and a repeater signal for the East End of the Winter Park siding.

The approaching Amtrak Train 5 could be heard from quite a distance back in the tunnel and took a white to emerge despite the 40mph track speed.

The Covid shortened consist was powered by Amtrak P42DC's #69, #133 and surprise 3rd engine #62.