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A cold rain has turned to a heavy, wet snow as a Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad photo freight is approaching the summit of Cumbres Pass on September 17, 1996. The train is led by Rio Grande K-37 Mikado No. 497. It’s still officially late summer, but winter can arrive early in Colorado’s high country.
Saddled with two rugged mountain crossings, of the Rockies in Colorado and the Wasatch in Utah, the Rio Grande developed an operational philosophy to be competitive with less strenuous east-west routes. Most non-commodity (coal, ore) consists were kept short, and were given more power than many other roads’ motive power desks would allot. Here eastbound TOFC train 100 demonstrates that philosophy as it races across the desert at Floy, Utah.
With mismatched block signals and number boards, Rio Grande GP40-2 No. 3112 leads a 72-car UT04L from the siding at American Fork, Utah on March 9, 1996.
DRGW 5407 leads Union Pacific's Denver to Pueblo manifest south on the Joint Line approaching Tomah Road near Larkspur, CO.
UP MDVPU:
DRGW 5407 SD40T-2
Rio Grande 3131 and 3130 pull a four car Midvale Tramp at the tail of the wye in Midvale, Utah the morning of June 12, 1998. The structures on the left belong to Butterfield Lumber, a reliable customer on the D&RGW.
This is the left fork of the river at Alameda bridge. Most of it is now mostly dry river bed. I Have posted a pic of the right fork from Alameda Bridge which still has a bit more water in it.
We need rain or snow run off......anything will help
With late season thunderstorms rumbling over the Book Cliffs in the background, Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” local approaches Mounds, Utah, late on the afternoon of November 21, 2003. Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors Nos. 5390, 5371 and 5349 bracket a UP SD40-2 for power, and the train will soon be at the junction of the Sunnyside Branch at West Mounds, ready to head west on the Green River Subdivision to Helper.
Union Pacific’s West local out of Denver, powered by a trio of Rio Grande EMD GP40-2s, descends off Rocky Spur at Rocky, Colorado, on the afternoon of December 27, 2001.
Five, count ‘em, five Rio Grande SD50’s roll an empty hopper train through Granby, Colorado. The 46 car train is somewhat overpowered with 17,500 horsepower of the newest locomotives on the D&RGW roster.
With a westbound train in the siding, Rio Grande Train 138 rolls east through Kremmling, Colorado on the Moffat line. The Union Pacific SD40-2 between the two Rio Grande units will become commonplace in a decade or so.
After shooting westbound Rio Grande train 197 in cloudy light at Cotopaxi, Colorado, we chased it to the vicinity of Salida, where we encountered two eastbound trains, including train 788, which we shot upon our return to Cotopaxi. The caboose of train 788 did yield a chance to get a sunny shot from my vantage point.
Under a blanket of low hanging clouds, a westbound Rio Grande manifest thunders through the reverse curve just east of Thompson, Utah.
Rio Grande GP40-2s No. 3096 and 3110 pull a 16 car Midvale Tramp through the outskirts of Magna, Utah on August 2, 1994. The 6,700 ft. wall of the Wasatch Front towers above the Salt Lake Valley including 11,253 ft. Lone Peak. A lone patch of snow has survived into mid-summer above Little Cottonwood Canyon.
A westbound Rio Grande freight drifts downgrade after clearing one of the two newest tunnels on the system. The twin tunnels in the distance were cut into that mountain after the disastrous Thistle mudslide of April, 1983. The area where the small valley ends at the upper right is a 220 foot high earthen dam, which is the bulk of the material from the slide. To the right of the train is the original alignment of US Route 6, as well as the Spanish Fork and the pre-1983 Rio Grande right of way, now permanently sealed off by that massive wall of earth. Tremendous feats of engineering and construction allowed the upper portion of the Spanish Fork to bypass the slide before it spilled over, allowed the railroad reroute to be reopened in less than three months, and allowed Highway 6, which passes through the huge cut in the upper left of the photo, to open just before year’s end.
D&RGW GP30 No. 3015 leads the Rio Grande Zephyr, train No. 18 into Provo, Utah on a sunny April 8, 1977 morning. The semi-streamlined EMD was substituting for an ailing F9B.
A trio of former Rio Grande SD50s lead a short intermodal east along the Colorado River near Dotsero, CO on UP's Glenwood Springs Sub. This stretch of railroad was built as the "Dotsero Cutoff". It united what had been two separate lines, the original Denver & Rio Grande Western main line via Tennessee Pass and the former Denver & Salt Lake between Denver and Craig, CO via the Moffat Tunnel. The D&SL did not actually attain its namesake western destination until after being taken over by the D&RGW, and this connection was the final piece of the puzzle. I believe this train was ZRODV or a precursor to that UP Roseville to Denver intermodal symbol. The lead unit wore a grimy coat of original Rio Grande paint. The dirt may have accumulated during its time in helper service on Tehachapi Pass or other points west on the UP. Regardless, it was nice to see the trio back on home rails, even if one had been repainted.
UP ZDVRO:
DRGW 5502 SD50
DRGW 5503 SD50
DRGW 5514 SD50
The setting sun glints off the flanks of three Rio Grande Tunnel Motors including as they head East at Cisco in the Utah Desert. 3.00
Rio Grande SD40T-2 No. 5396 leads an Arco, Colorado to Moapa, Nevada coal train through Utah's Price Canyon on an overcast Aug. 17, 1996 afternoon. The D&RGW units were 'point helpers' in front of the all SD40-2 series road power.
Rio Grande GP30s No. 3001, 3008, and 3017 pull train No. 663 through Lakota Junction, Utah the afternoon of Aug. 24, 1989. Train 663 has switched at Geneva Steel and Provo Yard, and is returning to Roper Yard with 53 cars.
Rio Grande GP40-2s No. 3111, 3128, 3127, 3118, and GP40 No. 3064 pull train No. 142 across Vineyard Road between American Fork and Pipemill on June 19, 1988.
Rio Grande 5358 and 5360 pull 10 loads of gravel and 10 loads of rip rap through Lakota Junction, Utah the afternoon of April 18, 1986. These Difco side dumps were loaded on the Pipemill Spur in Vineyard. The material will be used to shore up the right of way in Spanish Fork Canyon.
A couple of sets of Rio Grande power rest behind the hump tower at the railroad’s yard in Grand Junction, Colorado, on July 8, 1988. EMD GP40 No. 3151 is the former Penn Central/Conrail No. 3166, and is painted a deeper “orange” color instead of “Grande gold”. Of course, that’s harder to tell when compared to SD40T-2 No. 5371 that is totally covered with dirt and grime.
Rio Grande SD40T-2s No. 5390, 5401, and 5406 are cut into a 85-car MRODV east of Gilluly, Utah on Sept. 27, 1998.
Rio Grande SD40T-2s No. 5390, 5345, 5342, and 5392 await assignment in Helper, Utah on May 22, 1999.
Rio Grande GP9 No. 5954 and SD9 No. 5312 pull interchange traffic from Union Pacific's North Yard in Salt Lake City, Utah the afternoon of Aug. 4, 1984. D&RGW's first generation diesels weren't long for assignments such as this. By October of 1984, all of them were rounded up and shipped east to serve their final years in the Colorado Division.
The crew working D&RGW train No. 177 pilot Southern Pacific B30-7 No. 7828 through rural Utah County between Vineyard and American Fork, Utah on April 18, 1989. One couldn't help but wonder what was going on in their minds, with the marriage of SP and D&RGW becoming more apparent with each passing day.
Rio Grande’s Railblazer, train No. 103, glides through Riverton, Utah just after sunrise on April 17, 1989. In a little over 10 miles, this train of priority piggyback trailers from Denver will arrive at the intermodal ramp at Roper Yard in South Salt Lake.
Rio Grande EMD GP40-2 Nos. 3125 and 3117 power the Potash Local westbound over Thompson Hill just east of Thompson, Utah, in July 1984. The four idler flat cars between the three tank cars, along with a string of empty coal hoppers, will be dropped off at Brendel, with the two locomotives and caboose heading down the Cane Creek Branch with the tankers. I’m not sure why four idlers were needed, and why there weren’t required down the branch.
Así amaneció el día del amigo!!! Esa es la camioneta y Danita!!
Que tengan una maravillosa semana!!!!
With the Green River Subdivision main line in the foreground, Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” curves through Mounds, Utah, onto the Sunnyside Branch on November 21, 2003. Three Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors splice a UP SD40-2 as power for the local that operated between Helper and East Carbon hauling municipal waste and dirty dirt to the large landfill located there.
Rio Grande SW1200 No. 135 works the Savage Brother’s spur at 17th South and 6th West in Salt Lake City, Utah on Aug. 14, 1993.
Rio Grande SD7 No. 5301 rests between assignments at Roper Yard in South Salt Lake in October 1979. The big EMD was built for the Rio Grande in May 1953 and retired on the SP in Nov. 1991. By April 1996, it was sold to Precision Engineering in Mount Vernon, Illinois and scrapped.
A six-pack of Rio Grande Tunnel Motors work a westbound coal train through Price Canyon on Sept. 18, 1999. The set includes SD40T-2s No. 5385, 5360, 5392, 5373, 5342, and 5390.
Utah Railway GP40 No. 3001 and GP38 No. 2006 pull a 10-car RUT611 through Riverton, Utah on Aug. 13, 2002.
Deep in southern Utah County, Rio Grande GP9s No. 5931 and 5904 pull grain loads through Spanish Fork, Utah on Sept. 17, 1984. Loads will be set out at Moroni Feed at the Spanish Fork Sugar Factory and at the LDS church welfare farm elevators in Elberta.
Rio Grande GP9s No. 5934 and 5942 pull train No. 668 from the main line to the Tintic Branch in Springville, Utah the morning of Jan. 10, 1976. The hoppers will load at United States Steel's Keigley limestone quarry in Genola.
In the mid-1970s, you never knew what you might find in the joint Union Pacific-Utah Railway yard in Provo, Utah. Case in point, Rio Grande SD45 No. 5327 coupled to Union Pacific DD35 No. 77B and SD40-2 No. 3294 on July 3, 1976. These were exciting times to be a young railfan.
Rio Grande SD40T-2 No. 5395 leads forest products train No. 142 along a raging Soldier Creek east of Narrows, Utah on May 17, 1986.
After a hot day of visiting friends, playing with the dogs, and swimming, we take time to enjoy the setting sun.
Rio Grande SD40T-2s No. 5405 and 5400 pull an eight car Wood Chip Local across Main Street in Price Utah the afternoon of March 21, 1999. These classic EMDs defy the influence of two major railroad mergers in the past decade.
Rio Grande SD40T-2s No. 5400, 5360, and 5405 pull 40 loads up a 1.76% grade approaching Columbia Junction, Utah the afternoon of Oct. 8, 1998.
Rio Grande SD40T-2s No. 5405 and 5400 are tucked away in the siding while Union Pacific GP60 No. 5866 is on the approach in Price, Utah the afternoon of March 21, 1999. 5405 is leading the Helper-based Wood Chip Local while 5866 the MDVRO. 5405's brakeman is sprinting across the main track to set up up for a roll by.
A quartet of Rio Grande SD40T-2s pull train No. 739 from Valley Camp through Scofield, Utah on D&RGW’s Pleasant Valley Branch • Oct. 11, 1987