Saturday I went out with my new D600 and worked on my Eastern CO grain elevator project. I spent much of my time along the old MoPac line in southeastern CO. I paralleled the line from Haswell, CO to Tribune, KS. Much of the line looked like this:
After looking at some maps and such online, it looks like the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad owns the line from Towner, CO going east. Who owns the line between Pueblo and Towner? Does the line ever see any kind of service?
I’ll have a few shots from the line later this week in addition to a bonus shot of a short UP coal train on the Limon Sub.
Chris, you are bringing back memories from my youth. My grandparents homesteaded about one mile north of the former siding of Diston, about eight miles east of Eads. My aunt married a man who farmed wheat between Eads and Galatea, about ten miles west from Eads. I have driven Colorado Highway 96 all the way from east of Pueblo to Scott City, KS when there were several MOP trains operating including the Colorado Eagle, a very good passenger train that the Rio Grande operated between Pueblo and Denver.
I think our mutual friend Mudchicken can answer about the ownership. I have doubts that any of this line west from Eads will ever again be placed in operation.
An interesting fact about this line after it entered CO from KS; the sidings and stations were originally named in alphabetic order but some were changed: Brandon; Chivington; Diston; Eads; Fergus; Galatea; and Haswell are the ones I remember. Perhaps someone can fill in the others beginning with A?
I thought I might find the original names of the various towns–but the names had already been changed by the time that June, 1893, Guide was published. I find it interesting that this issue of the Guide shows an Olney east of Pultney, but no Olney Springs west thereof–and it does not show some other towns in the list.
Does anybody contributing to this forum have access to earlier timetables or Guides printed after the line was constructed?
Our family rode the Colorado Eagle in 1964 from Olney, Illinois to Pueblo, Co to visit relatives. I was 9 years old at the time and could barely contain my excitement. Noted on the timetable was Olney, Colorado. I dont recall if it was Olney Springs or not, but my 1964 OG doesnt show it.
Two years later we returned for a funeral and by then the CE was gone. We took the NW/UP to Denver then dropped down to Pueblo on the Rio Grande. The return trip was special, The Chief out of LaJuanta to KC then the MoPac to StLouis and finally the B&O home to Olney.
That was the last passenger train ride my family and I took together.
Thanks for all the information, everyone. And thank you for the kind words, KP. I’m nowhere near St. Ansel, but I do try to learn from him. I’ve read his awesome trio of books – The Camera, The Negative and The Print and think they should be required reading for any photographer, even in this digital age. While means of image capture may have changed, the final goal remains the same.
