My friend Bill Compton and I decided to go on a pre-Christmas railfanning trip to Colorado, specifically Tennessee Pass. We drove to the Motel 6 in Flagstaff, Arizona the first day then made our way to Pueblo, making the Motel 6 there our headquarters.
We railfanned along the way, catching Santa Fe 3820 East at Darling, Arizona.
Further east in New Mexico, we caught Santa Fe 3817 East splitting the semaphores at Onava. The next morning, we proceeded west on our way to Tennessee Pass, going through Canõn City then crossed the ridge on US 50.
We reached the west end of the Royal Gorge and near Texas Creek here came Rio Grande 3008 East.
We went east on US 50 to catch it a second time then drove west to Salida, where US Highway 24 took us north.
We caught Rio Grande 5351 East with four Missouri Pacific SD40-2's in the consist then further northwest, crossed the summit of Tennessee Pass and started our descent. Bill decided to switch gears then we hit an ice patch and spun out into a snow bank. As we were trying to work out how to remove the vehicle, a Denver and Rio Grande Western signal maintainer drove up and offered to pull us out using the wrench on his truck. He freed us with no problem and after thanking him, we proceeded to Minturn, checking in at the railroad's offices to learn there was an eastbound on its way, so started off in search of the train.
Near Avon.
We followed him east and this scene was just west of Minturn.
The helpers were cut in mid-train and we caught him again at Pando.
We followed the train as it climbed towards the Summit Tunnel, which at 10,020 foot, is the highest railroad crossing in North America. I was not sure if this photograph would turn out as the sun had set and I had no reading on my light meter. We returned to Pueblo for the night.
The two of us arose to a bitterly cold morning with the radio stating it was minus forty degrees with the wind chill.
We drove east to Avondale catching Santa Fe 3675 West in the heavy snow then continued to NA Junction in the hopes of seeing a Santa Fe or Missouri Pacific train. Neither came, so we stopped at the Missouri Pacific station in Avondale and the operator gave me a system timetable, then we returned to Pueblo before going to Bragdon on the Joint Line to catch a few trains in the late afternoon.
The next cold morning, Bill and I proceeded up the Joint Line and found a southbound coal train led by Burlington Northern 5564.
Further north at Colorado Springs, Rio Grande GP30 3010, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1962, was switching the city's power plant. It was destroyed at Cliff, Colorado on September 30, 1991.
We made our way to Palmer Lake setting up at the grade crossing there; our first train was Santa Fe 3806 West.
That was followed by Denver and Rio Grande Western 3174 West, with leading GP40 3174 still in its Conrail Blue as they had just acquired it on November 9th. It was built as Penn Central 3126 by Electro-Motive Division in 1968, then became Conrail 3126, then Denver and Rio Grande 3174, which was re-numbered 3138 and when the merger occurred, became Southern Pacific 3138. It was scrapped in 2003.
A while later, Rio Grande 5392 East passed then we went towards Monument catching him curving under the highway overpass.
Further south at Academy, we watched 5392 pass south with a Burlington Northern train in the siding and walked down to talk to the crew, who gave me Rio Grande, Joint Line and Union Pacific timetables, much to my surprise. We watched Denver and Rio Grande Western 5379 West come through then returned to Pueblo for our last night.
After breakfast, we drove Interstate 25 south passing a Burlington Northern derailment in the process of being cleared, as well as an empty northbound coal train.
We made our way to Trinidad where we found Burlington Northern 7177 East about to leave. Continuing southeast along this line on local roads, we entered New Mexico and at Des Moines, joined US 87, which we followed to Dalhart, Texas.
Along the way at Greenville was Burlington Northern 7135 East running beside the ice-covered wires. We arrived at Dalhart and staked out the Burlington Northern/Southern Pacific crossing to catch a few trains then drove US 54 south back into New Mexico and caught up to a westbound train. At Tucumcari, we returned to Interstate 40 driving west to Grants and the Motel 6 for the night. The next day, we railfanned our way home, ending this winter trip to Colorado.
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