I was just reading an email railfan newsletter, which I receive every month. In it is an announcement that apparently there is an agreement, at least tentative, between UP and a subsidiary of Rio Grande Pacific Corp (The Colorado, Midland & Pacific Railway Company), to re-open more of Tennessee Pass. It states this would be Canon City to Eagle. Anyone know more about what this subsidiary would be doing? Freight? Passenger/tourist? A map of that line, showing this segment of track?
Eagle is not all the way to Dotsero but is about where Sage is on this map. Tennessee Pass route is the dotted red line. The railroad roughly follows I 70 and US 24 on this map.
Don't celebrate too soon; another operator is suing UP and blocking the agreement: http://www.realvail.com/colorado-pa...oF5hwkVlgDhEBwq212UDLNZJI2Zl28A0CaAH89bo_aRuw Maybe we should rename the title of this thread to "Argument" instead of "Agreement"...
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=95512141@N05&view_all=1&text=1989 https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=156831486@N07&view_all=1&text=1989 Rock & Rail sometimes ships rock out of Parkdale, beyond the Royal Gorge, one notable movement was in Spring 2020 with the DRGW Up heritage unit.
Here is a little more info on this Colorado Midland & Pacific strikes deal with UP to run trains on Tennessee Pass - Real Vail Make sure to read thru all the comments. Some very interesting stuff at the bottom.
Sage is the first station/siding east of Dotsero. The track is in service to Eagle Gyp (a wallboard plant), which is just west of Sage.
As I understand it, The entity trying to block this via STB, is the original outfit that has put a chunk of RR back in service in western KS and eastern CO. They have been trying to access/buy TP for years. UP is using this/their "new player" to kind of "checkmate" the original buyer. Typical corporate stuff.
In a word yes. I dont know how much traffic is there, but dont forget BNSF has trackage rights to Canon City, which goes back to the RR war between AT&SF and RG for access to the Royal Gorge.
Brought this up awhile back, never thought would get this intense!! As far as CGRX, they have been financially strapped for a decade or more, facilities going to rot, materials in use barely moving around here. Can see them dumping for cash their rights to trackage.
Indeed, the Santa Fe built the line. The Rio Grande built one too, but there was only room for one bridge at the tightest spot, and the Santa Fe built it. The court awarded that to the Rio Grande, but let the Santa Fe keep Raton Pass. Since it comes out of Pueblo, this route saves a lot of time between the old Santa Fe and MoPac mains across Kansas and points west.
Been articles in local papers there as to Soloviev the owner of CB&G waging war to stop this and failing. He wanted to keep the line just for his grain routes but would never offer up the cash to rebuild it.
That is somewhat like what the planners of CR faced as they worked out the system's Preliminary System Plan, where shippers that rarely if ever used the railroad voiced their opposition to abandonments. They wanted the weedgrown line intact only for negotiating leverage with truckers. Thankfully the Staggers Act of 1980 put an end to that nonsense and opened a new era of modern railroading.