The upper level of my two-level layout is all narrow gauge, depicting a portion of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western’s Fourth Division line in southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
D&RGW’s Joint Line
Colorado’s Joint line is the busy and mostly two-tracked, north-south line between Denver and Bragdon, just outside Pueblo CO – and a great location for railfanning. In the late 20th century, three railroads operated on this line – the Denver & Rio Grande Western (the first to lay tracks here), the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR (which laid a separate and roughly parallel line), and the Colorado & Southern (a subsidiary of the Burlington, later Burlington Northern). The line from Denver south to the town of Palmer Lake was an uphill grind of 1.4%, which required helper locomotives on many trains. In addition, the two separate tracks narrowed to a single track for 32 miles, starting at Palmer Lake, through Colorado Springs and ending at Fountain (Crews), which made for lots of action at these pinch points. There was a lot of variety in motive power as well, though if one locomotive stood out, it was EMD’s 6-axle SD40-2.
Colorado Springs, CO
The easiest spot for railfanning here was at the former D&RGW passenger depot in downtown (elevation 5,989’).
Click on each image for caption with more info
Palmer Lake, CO
Palmer Lake, at elevation 7,225 was the end of two-track operation on the northern leg of the Joint Line. From Denver, 2,000’ lower in elevation, it was 52 miles of climbing, sometimes as much as 1.4%. For coal trains, this meant rear helper locomotives – and these cut off the train at the start of single track and returned “light” to Denver for the next southbound train.
Click on each image for caption with more info
I have additional photos of these locations. Please contact me if you are interested.
Background History
The Joint Line has an interesting history, starting in the 1870s when the Denver & Rio Grande built south from Denver to Colorado Springs and beyond, with the hope of reaching El Paso and eventually Mexico City. Shortly thereafter, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR built a roughly parallel track through the same towns to Denver from La Junta and Pueblo, and this was later followed by the Denver and New Orleans RR (a predecessor to the Colorado & Southern Ry). Over the years, the D&NO tracks were pulled up, leaving the D&RG and AT&SF/C&S to compete against each other. During World War I, the USRA ordered the two railroads to operate between Denver and Bragdon as a double track railroad, hence the name “Joint Line”, and some connecting tracks and crossovers were constructed to facilitate the operations. In the mid-1970s, when traffic had slowed, the Santa Fe line through Colorado Springs was abandoned with incentives from the city to eliminate some “street running”. As a result, the stretch between Palmer Lake and Crews (Fountain) is now single track. When rail traffic increased in the 80s and 90s, especially with coal traffic from the Powder River basin in Wyoming, this single track became a bottleneck for trains, and a great place for railfans.