can any one give me some proto info on the rio grande?
Check out their web sites…in fact there are several really good sites out there.
[:-^]
Google, “fallen flags” then go to DRG&W. There will be all kinds of links for any information you are requesting.
That is one of the easy ones, lots of info on it, just dig.
Your question is very vague and no one would know where to start answering it.
Do some work on your own and when you find these sites file them under your favorites and then you’ll always have them handy.
James:1 Verse:5
Long live the WP.
Johnboy out…
Notice the post date, I was 11[wow]
Hi catman2,
A good source of info is the Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society:
Another excellent source is the Yahoo Rio Grande email list:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/DRGW/?yguid=86006
For locomotives and other roster-type info, try Don Strack’s UtahRails.net site:
Here is some up-front information that would be useful to HO modelers. I put together this list based on Jim Eagers book: Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight & Passenger Equipment and also got his input on the list after I put it together. This list shows most of the available models in HO over the years that are close matches to real freight cars, and a few other RR’s too.
By the way, I would suggest that anyone interested in modeling the Rio Grande should really get themselves a copy of Jim Eagers book: Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment published by Morning Sun Books. It covers the vast majority of the roster from the early part of the century to the end. It also covers Narrow Guage too. It is an excellent and invaluable resource.
Rio Grande HO models which are close/correct with dates purchased & main usage:
COVERED HOPPERS
- Proto 2000 PS-2CD 4427 cuft high side 3-bay covered hopper (gray D&RGW '67 & 3/68 barley & petroleum coke)
- Wathers 50’ 4800 cuft 2 compartment airslide covered hopper (orange D&RGW 11/71), gray D&RGW-ends are slightly different, 8/69 sugar beats)
- Walthers PS-2CD 4427 cuft 3-bay covered hopper (gray D&RGW 1964 potash)
- Concor PS2 3-bay covered hopper (gray D&RGW 1959 cement)
- Athearn PS-2CD 4740 cuft 3-bay covered hopper (orange D&RGW 7/71 grain & minerals, gray was bogus)
- Athearn 52’ ACF CF5250 3-bay covered hopper (orange large D&RGW 3/73 grain) incorrectly has the angle iron stiffener - alternative is to use Accurail’s car and convert to 4-bays and replace roof walk with older style
- MDC FMC 4700 cuft 3-bay low hip 3-bay covered hopper (orange D&RGW 11/73 grain)
- Intermountain PS 4750 cuft 3-bay covered hopper (orange D&RGW '74,'79 wheat, barley, potash, perlite)
- Kadee PS2 2003 cuft 2-bay covered cement car (gray D&
bump for Snaggletooth
Does anyone know if Rio Grande ever leased any locomotives during the 1965 to 1975 era?
I was also going to say that I hope the op found their info by now.
Jerry,
AFAIK, no, the Rio Grande used no short-term lease locos during '65-'75.
Regarding leases:
Apparently the Rio Grande “did” lease diesels in the early 70’s:
I was reading in my Rio Grande in Color, Vol 2: Utah book in one of the captioned pictures that the Rio Grande did lease locomotives in the early 1970’s when traffic was high and they were trying to purchase new power - namely the SD40T-2’s. Among the leased diesels were SP and Cotton Belt GP40’s. One was pictured in a photo in the book leading a freight train.
RioGrande–
The 'seventies was also about the time that the long standing “Ogden Gateway” agreement between SP and Union Pacific was pretty much dissolved after UP ate up Western Pacific, and the Southern Pacific and Rio Grande began a long-term relationship that lasted through the Rio Grande takeover of Southern Pacific (before Union Pacific stepped in, bought them both and screwed everything up). Their locomotives (including the SP-owned Cotton Belt) began being pooled about this time. In fact, I remember seeing Rio Grande locomotives appearing here in California, around Roseville and Sacramento. Believe me, as both an SP and Rio Grande fan, it was a delight to see the Rio Grande orange and black and the SP ‘bloody nose’ diesels lashed up together. Two great mountain railroads who for a too-brief time, showed how it COULD be done over difficult and challenging terrain.
Tom
riogrande5761,
I flipped through Vol 2 of Strapac once again to try and locate any short-term leased units prior to 1975, but drew a blank. But it’s late – and we’ve learned not to rely completly on Strapc. How about a page # cite so we clear up any confusion on this?
mlehman
You must have misread the book name I was referencing in my earlier message. It was "Rio Grand in Color, Volume 2: Utah" by James Sandrin, not "Rio Grande Diesels, Volume 2 by Joseph Strapac". I am aware of errors in Strapacs RGD books; they have been pointed out on the Yahoo Groups Rio Grande email list - though I don’t have the errata page handy. Sorry I’m at work and don’t have the book with me here so I can’t give a page number. But if you flip thru James Sandrins book (assuming you have a copy), there aren’t that many pictures with scarlet and gray diesels in them and you should be able to find it. If I can remember, I’ll try to look it up when I get home at the end of the work day.
The reference to leased SP units was in James Sandrins book if I remember correctly. There was a photo which showed an SP or SSW GP40 in a MU consist and the caption mentioned Rio Grande leasing units short term until they could purchase enough new locomotives to handle the upsurge in traffic (possibly coal traffic) but that is from memory. I could be mistaken or the book could be wrong, I’m just passing along the information I remember reading and can’t guarantee it is correct or factual. I’ll post a question on the email list to see if any of the resident experts can further shed light on this subject.
I do have copies of all three Rio Grande Diesel books and all three Rio Grande in Color books among others.
Tom, I lived in Davis CA from 1971 - 1977 and Sacramento in the 1977-81 time frame but I was in Jr High, High and college so less aware of train movements at that time. I mostly loved watching the SP trains coming through Davis on the double track mainline with mostly SD45’s and tunnel motors, and SD9’s too. The beat train ran north from Davis to Woodland and points north.
riogrande5761,
Opps, sorry 'bout that. I was following my train of thought, instead of what you wrote.
I flipped through Sandrin’s Vol 2, but actually found what you’re thinking about in Sandrin, Vol. 3, page 120.
From the caption:
“A dramatic increase in coal traffic created a new demand for locomotives by the last quarter of 1974. In an attempt to lessen the strain on the locomotive pool, four Cotton Belt GP40s were leased until the new SD40T-2 and additional GP40-2 units could be delivered.”
So it looks like the answer to the question of short-term leased locos between 1965 and 1975 is, yes, barely. I don’t have the exact months of delivery at my fingertips, but the Rio Grande took delivery of 13 GP-40-2s in 1974 and 33 SD40T-2s in 1974-1975.
Generally, I get the impression that the Rio Grande had sufficient power for the vast majority of the 1965-1975 period. Reinforcing this is the caption of another shot in Sandrin 3 on page 114. This has a shot of Rio Grande Fs leased out to the Burlington Northern in 1971. Other such leased-out RioGrande F units were on the Penn Central, Illinois Central, Southern Pacific and the Alaska Railroad. Barring any other evidence, it looks like the brief lease of the 4 Cotton Belt GP40s was it.
cool!
Glad you found the reference and I wasn’t losing my mind! But yes, from everything I have read, the Rio Grande mostly had enough or more than enough power and tended to lease out loco’s in the 60’s (in the form of F units and a few Geeps) to RR’s like Alaska, Rock Island and Penn Central etc. and others you menioned. I’ve seen a photo of a F7B on the SP.
What’s cool about this is that it gives modelers of these other roads a reason to have a Rio Grande F unit lashup “under lease” on their layout.
Which is yet another reason why it’s always a good idea for manufacturers who are going to produce something that is Rio-Grande appropriate to go ahead and paint 'em that way. Over the years, it has been my observation that the Rio Grande decorated part of a run will sell out before other, less illustrious roads…[:-^]
It’s true, I have a hard time finding anything Rio Grande at train shows if it is more than a year old.
And speaking of leased units, there are Rio Grande Stewart F units now offered with the PC worm logo on them!
PICKY! PICKY! PICKY!
catman2, if you are still around after seven and a half years, you are the only person in this world conscious that a DRG&W ever existed; thousands, however, are aware that a D&RGW existed.
PICKY! PICKY! PICKY!
This D&RGW Railroad is one of the most prolificly written about railroads in the country; what it lacked in route miles it made up for in esthetics and it has a modelers and railfan base far out of proportion to its geography. There is a historic society which you might contact; if you are genuinely interested in the D&RGW Railroad you might even consider joining.
[^][tup] Thanks for the “bump”, riogrande5761. That’s a really good list. Especially adding SP and BN, as they often were on DRGW property in most trains.