End of the line for RGS

Pulling up tracks of long-gone road

“All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
― Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho 

 “The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.”
― G.K. Chesterton 

D&RGW K-27 #461 assisting with scrapping operations, circa. 1952. Photo by Charlie Wunder, of Denver

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 Of course, there is a great sadness, when you have to pull the tracks up.

Despite difficult terrain, extreme weather conditions, and a trainload of financial difficulties, the Rio Grande Southern (RGS) Railroad operated 162 miles of track between Ridgway and Durango from legendary Otto Mear’s construction efforts, beginning in 1890, until they went into receivership again and started pulling up track in 1953. 

Friday, November 30, 1951:
In a dispatch from Hart Lee to Dolores Star (best of Hart's Stuff from Rico, 1968)

"Monday morning we went down to the depot to see the last train pull out for Ridgway. Old 461 hooked to the drag flanger and a couple of cabooses made up the train. The crew was J.C. Phillips, H. Walford, Jimmie Cooper and Alvin Talbert. The last train south will be sometime this week to pick up what empties that are in the yard, then after that — well the old girl died a natural death, so far as we know. The first transportation we had back 1869 was foot and horseback, then the bull teams and stage coaches. Then in 1881 we had old Puffen Jennie, not it's cars and trucks. Be a heck of a note if we finally get back to bull teams again, but it could happen."

Friday, December 7, 1951:

In another dispatch from Hart Lee to Dolores Star (best of Hart's Stuff from Rico, 1968).

"We've been talking about the last train going to leave the old burg for the last three weeks, well it happened last Thursday when old No. 20, coupled to thirty-three empties pulled out of the the yards at 12:10 p.m. for Dolores. The crew was Geo. McLean, Lee Lynton, Mike Smith, and Go. Thomas."

 

RGS built seven motors and one additional short-lived vehicle for the San Christobal Railroad on the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) Lake City branch. The term “Motor” was officially used by the RGS, although by 1944, the term “Galloping Goose” was used locally.

The Galloping Geese were car-train hybrids that ran on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS) between 1931 to 1952. They traveled the narrow gauge rails carrying freight, mail and passengers from Durango to Ridgway, Colorado with a spur to Telluride. Built to lower the operating costs of the railroad, they kept the RGS going for an additional 20 years.
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad built by Mears in 1890-91 to haul ore from the mines in the San Juan. The silver crash of 1893 hurt the railroad and Mears lost control when it was forced into court-ordered receivership.

The railroad remained in business, but went into receivership again when the stock market crashed in 1929. To save money, Victor A. Miller, the new receiver; Forest White, RGS superintendent; and Jack Odenbaugh, the master mechanic, designed the Galloping Goose. A prototype was on the rails by 1931 and the first Goose went into service in 1933.

When toll road builder Otto Mears finally abandoned the idea of a railroad going all the way through from Durango to Ouray, over Red Mountain Pass, in the form of the Silverton Railroad, he was just about eight miles short.  Locating Engineer Charles Wingate Gibbs and Mears managed to build the Silverton Rail Road on through to Ironton, which made it within eight miles of Ouray, but the remaining stretch through the Uncompahgre Gorge was considered too difficult, despite the efforts and engineering feats that had been already accomplished. A Cog-style road was briefly considered,  and even a spiraling tunnel, but the two ideas never made it off the drawing boards.

"Plan B" came in the form of the Rio Grande Southern, with incorporation in 1889. Construction began that year from both Ridgway and Durango. By the end of 1890, before the line was complete, the RGS was already servicing mining companies in Telluride and west of Durango.  The entire line was completed on December 12, 1891, when the two construction teams met south of Rico. 

The first year and a half qualified it as a "Bonanza Line." Then the RGS was booming, making lots of money for the company and investors, and producing higher than the average pay for RGS Employees. Unfortunately, it quickly went from generating more than enough money for the investors, and covering costs spent to build the railroad, with Silver Panic of 1893 which resulted in most of the mines the railroad serviced closing overnight 

The Railroad's headquarters and where the main facilities were in Ridgway, the Railroad traversed Northwest to Dallas Divide, on to the southwest  heading down to Placerville. It turned south toward Telluride following the San Miguel River, to what was called Vance Junction (west of Telluride), where one of two coal topples were located. Then continued southeast, curving around up the side of Yellow Mountain to Ophir  with the help of numerous, large trestle bridges then looped around to the southwest and continued up the side of Yellow Mountain to Trout lake, curving around it to the Summit of Lizard Head Pass. Then to the southeast, meeting the Dolores River and looping around into the town of Rico. 

Rico was considered the center of the Railroad and had some notable engine facilities. From Rico, it followed the Dolores River west into the town of Dolores, where it then curved southeast into Lost Canyon. It followed Lost Creek, and eventually exited the canyon to make its way directly south into Mancos, it traversed east following the East Mancos Creek up Mancos Hill, and then down Cima Hill to Hesperus. Then it curved south, passing by Ute Junction, the second coal topple on the line. It then looped back around the east, near what was then Fort Lewis campus, after which it headed northeast into Wild Cat Canyon. In the canyon, it passed by the townsite of Porter and the site of the Porter Coal mine, making its way north to Franklin Junction. It then curved east and finally ended close to the San Juan Smelter in Durango,  where it met up with the D&RGW's San Juan Extension.

The RGS finally threw in the towel and filed with the Interstate Commerce Comission for abandonment on April 24th, 1952, after 60 years of operation. The RGS had lost the contract to ship US mail after failing to clear snow to deliver during the winter of 1951-2. This contract was the very last profitable aspect of the RGS hence why it was the final straw after the railroad's history of financial trouble. 

Scrapping operations started after the request for abandonment was approved in April and was completed by March 21st, 1953. Remaining operational equipment such as RGS C-17 #42 on the south end of the line and D&RGW K-27m #461 on the north end as well as various Geese were used to salvage the rails and other parts of the railroad that were removed.

Most of the RGS equipment had been abandoned, sold, or scrapped, and we are fortunate to have the amount remaining today (see remains below). The RGS had many locomotives regardless of whether they were leased or owned, but many were eventually cannibalized for parts that went to similar locomotives of the same class and then scrapped. The RGS was always having financial issues and was usually more than willing to sell worn out or excess locomotives and rolling stock hardware to the scrappers to stay afloat. The D&RGW had to preform similar practices during the great depression, causing many typical classes of RGS and D&RG locomotives to almost go extinct.

 The RGS closed down in 1951 and was dismantled in 1952-3, but there are still remnants of the long-gone railroad today.

Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge caboose number 0409
Creator(s) : Richardson, Robert W.
Summary: Three-quarter, close view; relettered for movie "Ticket to Tomahawk." Photographed: Rico, Colorado, November 17, 1951.
Notes: Title from inventory prepared by Western History Department, Denver Public Library.; R7004007818
Physical Description 1 photonegative ; 7 x 11 cm. (2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge locomotive, engine number 20, engine type 4-6-0
Creator(s): Richardson, Robert W.
Summary Distant head on view, at station. Photographed: Rico, Colorado, May 23, 1951.
Notes: Title from inventory prepared by Western History Department, Denver Public Library.; R7004000109
Physical Description: 1 photonegative ; 7 x 11 cm. (2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge locomotive, engine number 20, engine type 4-6-0
Creator(s): Richardson, Robert W.
Summary Left side view of engine; 2-car freight train. Photographed: between Rico and Montelores, Colorado, May 23, 1951.
Notes: Title from inventory prepared by Western History Department, Denver Public Library.; R7004001692
Physical Description 1 photonegative ; 7 x 11 cm. (2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Rio Grande Southern Railroad track removal near Burns Canyon: (above Dolores, Rico, Colo.)

Near Mile Post 63: A crew apparently is working on removing the first section of track at the lowest

washout of track above Dolores when the Rio Grande Southern was being abandoned and scrapped. The location apparently is Burns Canyon, a narrow rocky area just south of bridge 64-A, which both the track and the Dolores River twisted through on an S curve. According to Robert Herronen (analyst, UNCG MIS department; builder, Rio Grande Southern R.R. of N.C.; and alumnus, Fort Lewis College, 1993), who supplied this info via emails on 3/26 and 3/28/2007, "The RGS received word from the courts that it could be abandoned April 24, 1952. The RGS began to dismantle the trackage starting in May of 1952, it appears.

 

"Scrapping was done June 17, 1953." He believes this view is"around milepost 70. Below MP. 70, there are photos of Goose 7 scrapping the tracks. So it was a section that they could not use the steam train to scrap the railroad. That would explain why they were scrapping up the side of Lizard Head pass by October. They had Rico to scrap (at MP 66.2) and by October two outfit cars had run away and were left where they ran off the tracks at Coke Ovens (at MP 60.49)."

 

He explained, "The other sections between the washouts were removed using the Galloping Geese engines with their box bodies removed. [That way, the work crews] could truck them around the washouts and tear up the track between the washed out tracks.

They used the K-27 class locomotive #461 with a winch mounted on the tender to pull the rails up onto the flat car as they went along (the winch was not installed by the time the time these photos were taken.) "

 

 

 

Rio Grande Southern Railroad track removal near Burns Canyon

(above Dolores, Colo. (actually Rico)
Date/circa: 1952/1953

 
Photographer Notes: Near Mile Post 63. A crew apparently is working on removing the first section of track at the lowest washout of track above Dolores when the Rio Grande Southern was being abandoned and scrapped. The location apparently is Burns Canyon, a narrow rocky area just south of bridge 64-A, which both the track and the Dolores River twisted through on an S curve. According to Robert Herronen (analyst, UNCG MIS department; builder, Rio Grande Southern R.R. of N.C.; and alumnus, Fort Lewis College, 1993), who supplied this info via emails on 3/26 and 3/28/2007, "The RGS received word from the courts that it could be abandoned April 24th, 1952. The RGS began to dismantle the trackage starting in May of 1952 it appears. Scrapping was done June 17, 1953." He believes this view is "around milepost 70. Below MP. 70, there are photos of Goose 7 scrapping the tracks. So it was a section that they could not use the steam train to scrap the railroad. That would explain why they were scrapping up the side of Lizard Head pass by October. They had Rico to scrap (at MP 66.2) and by October two outfit cars had run away and were left where they ran off the tracks at Coke Ovens (at MP 60.49)." 

 

He explained, "The other sections between the washouts were removed using the Galloping Geese engines with their box bodies removed. [That way, the work crews] could truck them around the washouts and tear up the track between the washed out tracks. They used the K-27 class locomotive #461 with a winch mounted on the tender to pull the rails up onto the flat car as they went along (the winch was not installed by the time the time these photos were taken.)"

___ Center of Southwest Studies,Fort Lewis College.

 

As a kid growing up in Dolores, I noticed the town had marks of the railroad all over it. But Dolores in the 1970s had been separated from the rails just long enough to have an identity crisis, but not long enough to forget where it came from.

 

The main highway in and out was called “Railroad Avenue.” Various buildings around town were labeled with left-over monikers such as the ‘track warehouse’ or the D&RG Southern Hotel.

Corrugated tin, painted Denver & Rio Grande yellow, covered the outside of dozens of other buildings, and platforms, built to service freight from boxcars, still appeared in front of about a third of the businesses in town.

 

The boarded-up section house still stood between the Sixth and Seventh Street out on the highway.

Legions of cub scouts were still able to gather rail spikes, track hardware and telegraph insulators from the rotting ties and weathered poles in Lost Canyon and pack them over across the rusting Fourth Street Bridge back into Dolores. They would end up in a coffee can in someone’s garage or as tent stakes, or sold for scrap at Curt’s Trading Post.

“In 1889 plans were made by Otto Mears for a railroad running through and around the western flanks of the San Juan Mountains from Ridgway in the north to Durango in the south,” according to the Mountain Studies Institute. “The railroad would tap the riches accumulating in the booming mountain mining towns of Telluride and Rico and the smaller mining camps between the two towns. The 162-mile railroad would, as well, link two segments of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad coming into Durango from the east and into Ouray from the north. The new railroad would be known as the Rio Grande Southern.”

 

But as we all know, it is important to be near where the action is.

 

The fledgling settlement of Big Bend, which had been located nearly two miles downriver from present-day Dolores since 1878, basically pulled up stakes and moved to where the rails from Durango entered the Dolores River Valley.

 

“In 1890 two Big Bend businessmen laid out the town site of Dolores at the mouth of Lost Canyon. The rest of the citizen’s of Big Bend soon followed. By the time the tracks reached Dolores on Thanksgiving Day, 1891, the community of Big Bend was no more,” according to Mountain Studies Institute. 

 

Born as a product of the rails, for 60 years Dolores lived in the shadow of the line, finally waving goodbye from the platform in 1951 when D&RG Southern closed and most of the track was pulled up and sold for scrap.