This is much like the Penn central thread, I know nothing about Rio Grande RR, except I keep seeing pictures- What happened to it, where did it go, how did it go, what did it do, accomplish and how did it go belly up?
Not to bombard anyone, if you only know one question or have info, please share.
Howcome Railpictures.net doens’t have any Rio grande Categories for pictures?
They do. It is under the “Fallen Flags (Non-operating)” category as “Denver & Rio Grand Western Railroad”
According to the search there are 213 photos.
Good Luck!
Dennis
If memory serves, the Denver, Rio Grande, & Western was “gobbled up” by the Southern Pacific, which in turn dissappeared into the Union Pacific.
Looks like the age old question: Who gained what?
Was the Southern Pacific the one doing the gobbling?
Gabe
Actually, it was the DRGW that gobbled up the SP. It was Ansultz (sp) and his money that bought the SP.
So that is what SP fans mean when they say “to add Ansultz to injury, they bought us.”
Gabe
And after Anshutz and the Rio Grande bought the SP, then he sold then both to the UP and retained a position the board of directors.
A little side note, the rolling stock leasing co. called Golden West Service is in his wifes name. You think he’s got some money???
There is a Rio Grande Train operating at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. Knott’s also owns a Galloping Goose. This is how DRGW became my favorite railroad.
BTW,
Who operates the Rio Grande ski train in Colorado if Rio Grande doesn’t?
Here a recent topic to review. Good stuff.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=23086&REPLY_ID=221791#221791
You might find it interesting to hear that I saw a Rio Grande painted SD40-T2(?) tunnel motor unit on an eastbound UP manifest freight through Kirkwood, MO yesterday (the cab was sub-lettered UP). This units paint was still in remarkably good condition considering the age of the paint job and UP efforts to repaint them.
I still see their rollingstock about. I’ve seen covered hoppers, gondolas and autoracks.
Why did Anshultz, whose own railroad (DRGW) was doing so well that he could afford to buy the SP, decided to eliminate the DRGW identity in favor of the (failing) SP identity?
I’m sure to perturb the SP fans out there, but I always thought the DRGW units looked so cool, and they seemed to convey an image of power. Granted, in the ‘good old days’, the SP was much more respected, but when the sale time came, the SP seemed to be a shadow of it’s former glory, whereas the DRGW seemed to be very robust.
While I am not sure, their could have been many tax and other fiscal concerns that called for retaining the SP name. It could be much the same type of situation when Chessie was formed. The B&O name was retained for a couple of reasons. 1. Tax exempt status of many B&O properties. If B&O was merged away, these properties would lose their tax exempt status. 2. Deal cut with the City of Baltimore - Again tax and other considerations had to be taken into consideration. The City had very strong feelings about this as the B&O and WM were major shippers through the Port of Baltimore and the City Fathers were very worried that traffic would be move to Newport News on the C&O. Baltimore was at a serious disadvantage to Newport News. It is a lot further to the Atlantic Ocean from Baltimore than from Newport News. That is why B&O was retained.
Phillip Anshultz bought the SP then ran into the ground pretty much. Sold SP to UP. DRGW was a gold mine back in the day.
Phil Anschutz did not milk the SP and drive it into the ground. It was a sick line long before Anschutz came on the scene. The problem was single track, loss of market and a myrid of other problems that have been well documented in other categories in this forum.
Probably more accurate to say someting like;
“The SP was in such bad shape that it sucked
the life blood from the D&RGW and neither could survive.”
Does anyone remember that the last days of the Rio Grande Zephyr had it running only to Grand Junction and not to SLC because of the Thistle mud slide? I rode it and made the connection to a light plane commercial flight at GJ. When Amtrak took over, they had to continue running via the UP for about six weeks, with a protection bus coving the D&RGW Stations, until the new line and tunnel were pushed through.
A very interesting book with lots of great photos of the Rio Grande Zephyr is
“Never on Wenesday”. You might want to get a copy.
I remember water cooler talk that the SP was the surving company to avoid a property tax reassesment of SP land in CA.
So it didn’t go fut, it was justt bought out?