I wonder if someone can tell me the history behind these two D&RGW names?
Orestod and Dotsero. (Orestod is Dotsero spelled backwards). Seems pretty odd.
It is said that Dotsero got it’s name from the land surveyor’s term, “Dot Zero,” meaning the starting point. Why they named a second place Orestod, I don’t know and have never heard why. That may be one of those things that has gone to the grave with those who named it.
The original Rio Grande route was laid out from Denver south, then west over Tennessee Pass to Grand Junction. Another railroad(Denver & Salt Lake) started building a ‘shorter’ route west out of Denver, but never completed the line. The Rio Grand bought the line and completed it by building a cut-off between Bond and the orignal Tennessee Pass line east of Grand Jct. The two points were named Dotsero and Orested. They also rerouted the original D&SL line by building a new tunnel(Moffit Tunnel) under Rollins Pass and now had a new direct route between Denver and Salt Lake City. The Craig branch north of Bond is the uncompleted D&SL line…
Jim
They are “bookends”, or mirror images of each other…supposedly. The Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end(s) …of the line.
Ok, that was a good explanation, thanks.