I have noticed a “Photo of the Day” with the following caption that includes several factual errors.
Current Caption:
Rio Grande 4-6-6-4
Freshly shopped Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-6-6-4 No. 3708 is at Wolcott, Colo., 13 miles south of Denver on a freight bound for the road’s Tennessee Pass line in June 1949.
Ross B. Grenard photo
As for location and destination, this is at MP 13.5 “Wolhurst” (not “Wolcott”) and is on the “Joint Line” 13.5 miles south of Denver, and not bound for Tennessee Pass as stated. Based on the late afternoon sun, this is D&RGW (Rio Grande) freight #67 and is headed south to Pueblo, and then continuing on southwest over Veta Pass to Alamosa, arriving well after midnight.
Suggested Caption:
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Rio Grande 4-6-6-4
Freshly-shopped Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-6-6-4 No. 3708 is at Wolhurst, Colo., 13.5 miles south of Denver, on a freight bound for Pueblo and Alamosa on the road’s “Joint Line” in June 1949.
Ross B. Grenard photo
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As an interesting historical side note, as shown in early blue prints, the curve in the immediate foreground was where the proposed D&RG narrow gauge line up Platte Canyon (1879) took off towards the left (west) and had been graded most of the way through the canyon by about 1883, but the rails were never laid. This was to be the D&RG “South Platte Extension,” a cutoff to establish a much shorter route Leadville and the Ten-Mile District, and would have followed the South Fork of the South Platte into South Park via Lake George, and then eventually entered the Arkansas River Valley after dropping down from Trout Creek Pass. The initial portion of the grad