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On a pleasant April 3, 2000, afternoon, a fleet of Rio Grande Tunnel Motors gathers beneath the Book Cliffs looming over Helper Yard in Utah. Still being used for helper service on trains up Soldier Summit in addition to the dirt train to East Carbon, twelve SD40T-2s call Helper home this day. Present are 5342, 5347, 5349, 5353, 5360, 5365, 5373, 5392, 5400, 5401, 5406 and 5410, and not a yellow locomotive is seen almost four years after the Union Pacific’s merger of Southern Pacific.
An eastbound Union Pacific “dirt train” led by Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor No. 5390 curves by the colorful rocks west of Narrows, Utah, on May 5, 2004.
Kayaker attempting to run the Sous Hole on the Rio Grande Race Course. Higher than normal snowpack led to big water on the Rio Grande.
Somber gray clouds hang over the Wasatch Range on the morning of January 30, 2003, as Rio Grande SD40T-2 No. 5371 leads Union Pacific’s “dirt train” past mile 607.4 between Wash and Mounds, Utah. Engineer Mel Baughman notches up the four black Tunnel Motors with a bit of smoke as the eastbound train storms by headed for the Sunnyside Branch.
Springtime thunderstorms gather over Tennessee Pass as a westbound Rio Grande freight descends the steep three percent grade through the town of Red Cliff, Colorado, on the afternoon of May 24, 1991.
Even in Utah desert country, the Price River brings autumn colors to the short canyon between Mounds and Wash on the afternoon of October 6, 2004. Curving through the scene is a trio of Rio Grande SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors (Nos. 5390, 5349 and 5371) powering an eastbound Union Pacific LJP45 dirt train.
A westbound Rio Grande freight drops down the steep 3% western grade of Tennessee Pass at Mitchell, Colorado, on July 20, 1990. Leading the train is EMD SD40T-2 “Tunnel Motor” No. 5349, which is m.u.’ed with a SD50, a former Conrail GP40 and a Cotton Belt SD45T-2.
Powered by three EMD SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors, Rio Grande No. 5379 leads Southern Pacific’s Denver to Roper Forwarder (DVROF) up Thompson Hill just east of Thompson, Utah, on the afternoon of August 3, 1996.
By February 2006, Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 No. 5371 was the last Denver & Rio Grande Western locomotive on the Union Pacific system in its original unpatched paint and road number. Slumbering next to the one-stall enginehouse at Helper, the Tunnel Motor sends smoke into a starry Utah night on the eve of October 23, 2007.
In the aftermath of a late high country snowstorm, Union Pacific MDVRO manifest freight rumbles westward on the main, meeting an eastbound BNSF helper set at Rollinsville, Colorado, on April 22, 2001. The freight is powered by five motors, including Rio Grande Tunnel Motors Nos. 5345 and 5371, while the two SD40-2 helpers are drifting back to Denver after helping a westbound BNSF freight to the Moffat Tunnel. Needless to say—UP doesn’t run Rio Grande SD40T-2s, nor does BNSF operate manned helpers—on the Moffat main line anymore.
As afternoon storms send light rain to the ground, hard-working locomotives of a Rio Grande coal train grinding its way up the two percent grade of Winter Park hill throws exhaust and sand into the sky on the afternoon of July 8, 1988.
Rio Grande EMD GP40 No. 3135 switches at the San Luis Central interchange at Sugar Junction just outside Monte Vista, Colorado, on August 6, 1993, while SLC SW8 No. 70 sits on the west leg of the wye waiting for the local to finish up before heading north.
A quartet of Rio Grande Tunnel Motors bask in the lights of the fuel track at Union Pacific’s Helper Yard locomotive facility on the eve of July 26, 2002.
The river Rio Grande runs along the Jemez mountains in the White Rock Canyon. Viewed from White Rock Overlook in White Rock, New Mexico. The views are pretty spectacular.
A pair of grimy Rio Grande SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors help Amtrak’s California Zephyr with some extra horsepower over Soldier Summit and the Rocky Mountains on July 7, 1988. At this point in the trip, the train is heading downgrade through the curves at Kyune, Utah. D&RGW EMD SD40T-2 Nos. 5407 and 5366 join three Amtrak F40PHs with the long train that includes two private cars on the rear.
Rio Grande F9A No. 5771 and F9B No. 5762 glisten on the night of March 25, 1999, not long after being lovingly restored by the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden in as-delivered Aspen gold over silver four-stripe colors these locomotive received when built by EMD in 1955.
After Union Pacific began operation of the Moffat Tunnel line in the wake of the Southern Pacific merger, there was a brief era when UP assigned Rio Grande’s GP60s to the Ski Train. On the morning of March 21, 1997, the Rio Grande Ski Train approaches Tunnel 1 east of Plainview, Colorado, led by matching GP60s, Nos. 3155 and 3156.
Rio Grande 5403 leads a quartet of EMD SD40T-2s along the Price River approaching Kyune, Utah on Oct. 12, 1996.
The Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 18 glides eastward through Ruby Canyon at the base of Dodge’s Bluff near Utaline, Colorado the afternoon of Sept. 5, 1979.
Rio Grande GP60 No. 3154 leads a 93 car Grand Junction to Roper manifest freight through Ironton, Utah on Sept. 12, 1993.
The unmistakable chant of EMD 567s reverberates through the canyon as the Rio Grande Zephyr climbs through Gilluly, Utah the morning of Feb. 20, 1983. At this time, the streamliner had eight weeks remaining to operate, and the standard of service we had come to know was maintained by the D&RGW until the very last run.
Rio Grande 5358 and 5379 pull a merchandise train just east of Thompson Springs, Utah the morning of Aug. 14, 1992. Old US Highway 6 can be seen in the background.
The Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 18 rolls through Spanish Fork Canyon amid colorful scrub oak the morning of Sept. 25, 1977.
Rio Grande GP30s No. 3019 and 3017 pull 30 loads from Geneva Steel of Utah's Keigley limestone quarry in Genola, Utah on Oct. 4, 1987. The East Tintic Mountains, Goshen Valley, and the McMullin fruit orchards mark the background.
Rio Grande spreader AX-41 plows snow on the main line at Pinecliffe, Colorado, on March 21, 2003. This major blizzard closed transportation through much of Colorado during the March 17-20 storm. Denver received 31.8 inches, while Coal Creek Canyon got 71.8 inches and Rollinsville 87.5. With Pinecliffe located between the two, it received a whopping 6 to 7 feet of snow! And it was the heavy and wet spring stuff too. The coal hoppers on the right are a portion of a westbound empty that never made it beyond Pinecliffe during the storm, and is cut for the Highway 72 crossing and now has to be dug out.
Even after Union Pacific’s merger of Southern Pacific, for several years, locomotives for the West local out of Denver on the former Rio Grande Moffat Tunnel route was a pair of home road GP30s. They ran west on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I tried to capture them as much as I could. Only problem is that the local rarely ventured west of Rocky and Rocky Spur.
On January 6, 1998, that was going to change. The crew of an eastbound UP freight died on the hours at Plainview, and it was decided that the West local would head up to Plain light engines to bring the train down to Rocky where they’d send a van out to pick up the crew. Finally, a chance to get the GP30s in some mountain scenery! The train, led by venerable Rio Grande GP30 Nos. 3006 and 3003, pops out of Tunnel 1 in fresh snow and afternoon sun, Mars light leading the way—almost like the “good old days.”
Rio Grande GP40-2 No. 3105 leads the high priority 101 train through Spanish Fork Canyon near Detour, Utah on Christmas Eve, 1987.
On a perfect morning in Utah's Price Canyon, the Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 18 glides eastward along the frozen Price River east of Kyune on New Year's Day, 1978.
Rio Grande train No. 146 rolls through Spring Glen, minutes after a crew change at Helper Yard on Aug. 16, 1987. The Book Cliffs mark the background in this perspective of Utah’s scenic Castle Valley area.
In his book Never on Wednesday, photographer Mel Patrick called this area of the Utah desert a “moonscape”, and I can’t imagine anywhere on earth that would more closely resemble the lunar surface. Here the sun has ducked below the horizon, but there was still a westbound near and we waited for it. There’s definitely a feel of railroading on the moon.
If you don’t have Never on Wednesday, I highly recommend that you seek a copy. It is a spectacular black and white photo essay about the Rio Grande Zephyr, and includes very thorough coverage of the most remote and scenic locations along the route.
The Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 18 emerges from a storm system at Castilla in Spanish Fork Canyon on Nov. 18, 1978.
Rio Grande SD50 No. 5505 leads train No. 195 along Geneva Steel near Vineyard, Utah the evening of Aug. 25, 1987. I knew this train was coming westward from Provo, and was looking for a new angle for a photograph along what is a rather uninteresting tangent of track. I perched myself on a large mountain of dark, black, oily material that actually smelled pretty awful. The opposite side of the track includes 'slag mountain', an accumulation of byproduct compiled over decades of steel making.
The Rio Grande Gorge is a geological feature in northern New Mexico where the watercourse of the Rio Grande follows a tectonic chasm. Beginning near the Colorado border, the approximately 50-mile gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, through the basalt flows of the Taos Plateau volcanic field.
Rio Grande GP60 Nos. 3156 and 3154 lead a passenger special downgrade through a cut past milepost 23 at Coal Creek between Plainview and Clay, Colorado, on October 20, 1997.
Rio Grande priority train No. 187 descends the 2% grade through Gilluly, Utah on July 24, 1987. The train is 10 miles by rail from Soldier Summit, and has already dropped nearly 1000 feet of elevation in that distance. The scar along the distant hillside (upper right) is the D&RGW right of way entering Davidson Canyon.
The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, locally known as the "Gorge Bridge" or the "High Bridge", is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge 10 miles northwest of Taos, New Mexico, United States. Roughly 600 ft above the Rio Grande, it is the tenth highest bridge in the United States.
A westbound merchandise train makes an appearance at the Rio Grande depot in Provo, Utah on Nov. 6, 1985.
The westbound Rio Grande Zephyr is stretching its legs as it is making track speed west of Glenwood Springs at Newcastle, Colorado.