Maps I have are not detailed enough to differentiate the D&RGW and AT&SF tracks in downtown Colorado Springs, CO. WRT to Rio Grande passenger trains, I wish to understand why (in at least 1963) southbound trains used the D&RGW station while northbound used the AT&SF station.
According to my AT&SF PTT for 1963, the AT&SF also used certain D&RGW stations for its bus and rail service between Pueblo, CO, and Denver.
Any insights would be appreciated. Thank you.
The trackage was part of the “Joint Line” between Denver and Pueblo. The Rio Grande owned one of the tracks and the Santa Fe the other but it was operated as a double track railroad. The Colorado & Southern (CB&Q subsidiary) also used the line as a tenant after abandoning its own tracks which were parallel to but further east of the other two lines.
That JOINT LINE also hosted trains from Rock Island and MoPac at the beginning of the 20th Century. The Santa Fe portion of the joint line through Colorado Springs (Crews to Palmer Lake)came out in 1975 and the end of passenger service (plus a rash of grade crossing accidents)…then the coal boom hit (ATSF wishes it still had it’s track and the local city & county welched on an agreement to help fund doubletracking DRGW, Crews to Palmer Lake)
The C&S line (Denver & New Orleans RR originally)was many miles to the east of the joint line and was all but gone by 1937…Union Pacific almost built from Denver to Castle Rock immrdiately next to the Joint Line in 1883, but the financial panic killed that off.
At one time in, or immediately south of, downtown there was an east-west connector line between the two Class 1s in town. The big move on this line was the transfer of the Denver Zephyr equipment (the Colorado Springs section) between the Rio Grande and Santa Fe depots. I understand that DRGW no. 1, The Royal Gorge, handled the DZ’s equipment southbound and a Rio Grande city switcher transferred it over to the Santa Fe’s depot for servicing. At the appropriate time, DRGW no. 2, the eastbound Royal Gorge, would pickup this equipment and haul it onto Denver Union Station where it would be switched into the long-haul portion of the Denver Zephyr. I seem to recall too that the DZ’s equipment for Colorado Springs included a coach or dome coach, Chuckwagon diner (were these domes too?), and a Pullman sleeper.
Where is/was this connector line located?
I seem to recall too that the Rio Grande city switcher made the transfer move Mondays through Saturdays, but no. 1 took something of a delay making this transfer move on Sundays.
Well, according to Fred Frailey in his “Twilight of the Great Trains” in the summer of 1964 the Burlington was running five cars through to Colorado Spirngs with a capacity of 162 passengers.
They were: two 50 passenger capacity coaches, one 40 passenger capacity “Slumbercoach” and one 22 passenger capcity standard sleeper. D&RGW #1, the “Royal Gorge” handled the equipment from Denver to Colorado Springs. A “Slumbercoach” was an ecnonomy sleeper with really small rooms. It approached the capcity of a coach and was almost double the capcity of a standard sleeper.
It worked for some folks, but I heard one passenger describe sleeping in a slumbercoach bed as like “being in a coffin.”
Along with the passenger cars went a “Dome - coffee shop - dormitory” to feed and amuse the passengers and take care of the crew. The Q had to operate a hotel with beds, alcohol, and meals in addition to operating a train.
This through equipment didn’t exist in 1956 and was gone by 1970, but it shows us the market power of the Burlington and the lack of market power of the Rock Island. Both the Rock and the Q ended at Denver, but the Rock also had a direct line into Colorado Springs. The Q didn’t go to The Springs.
For years the Rock Island based it’s “Rocky Mountain Rocket” on the Colorado Springs market. The RI had to compete into Denver but it was “The Only Through Route” to Colorado Springs. It split its train at Limon, Colorado, with most of the capacity going to Colorado Springs. The Q took note of this and decided on its own “split”, this one at Denver.
It got the Rio Grande to take the cars south on its Royal Gorge to CS. This killed the Rock Island operation. Something the Q could always do.
Now the Rio Grande needed this short haul (about 100- miles) passenger move like it needed a hole in the head. It’s cut of the revenue on this short move probably didn
Bob: The connecting tracks were:
(1) From Roswell (CRIP Junction & Roundhouse just north of the D&RG Depot) east along the CRIP main track up to Pikeview (ATSF over CRIP), then south to the ATSF depot.(still there, cannot go south on ATSF from Pikeview since 1977)
(2) Just north of Kelker yard (connection to Ft. Carson) along an ATSF owned 3 mile line that connects into the south end of the old ATSF yard at the Shooks Run Bridge. (still there, but not for too much longer) Basically parallells Las Vegas Steet through the sewage treatment plant south of Nevada and Tejon…
(3) The C&S/Colorado Midland connecting track that came