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 Moffat Line
The “Moffat Line” was the mainline of the Denver and Rio Grande Western RR which extended west of Denver and went “Thru the Rockies, Not Around Them”. That meant steep grades, powerful locomotives, high mountain passes, and brutal winters – and a railfan’s dream. The line crossed the Continental Divide at the Moffat Tunnel, then followed the Colorado River to the west and eventually ended at Salt Lake City and Ogden Utah.
North Yard in Denver CO
The Moffat line started at Utah Junction and nearby North Yard in Denver. I was fortunate to visit North Yard a number of times, the first in 1966.
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After the Southern Pacific merger in 1988.
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Big Ten and the Climb to the Moffat Tunnel
While the railroad’s initial 2.0% grade assault on the Rockies starts near Leyden CO, it’s first notable feature is the Big Ten loop – a sharp 10 degree curve – between Rocky and Clay at milepost 20. Exposed on the edge of a mesa, occasional down-mountain winds here are strong enough to blow over trains – so a long string of hoppers filled with rock are permanently parked on a siding to act as a windbreak. From a point just up the hill from Clay siding, a great view of Big Ten is possible, where I tracked 3 trains ascending and descending Big Ten. Yes, I was trespassing to take these photos. Ahead, there are 30 tunnels before reaching the big one, the Moffat Tunnel.
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Moffat Tunnel
The Moffat Tunnel, built for the predecessor Denver & Salt Lake RR over almost 4 years, was completed in 1927 and officially opened in 1928. The tunnel is 6.2 miles long, 9,239’ in elevation at its apex, and was the longest railroad tunnel in the US at the time.
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I have additional photos of these locations. If you are interested, please contact me.
Background History
The Moffat line was the main line of the Denver & Rio Grande Western RR, but it didn’t start out that way. David Moffat, a successful Denver businessman and railroad enthusiast, wanted a railroad which went west from Denver – which had been bypassed by the Union Pacific a few years earlier. In 1902, he started the Denver Northwestern and Pacific RR, which was built to good standards much of the way but was expensive to build and operate. The DNW&P reached the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass (elev. 11,680’) in 1904, and Steamboat Springs 2 years later. The DNW&P was reorganized as the Denver & Salt Lake RR, but the goal of Salt Lake was never reached, with the line ending at Craig CO in the coal fields in 1913 when construction was halted. The line, in particular the final climb to Rollins Pass using 4% grades, was an operating nightmare in winter. The city of Denver and the state of Colorado pushed for a tunnel under Rollins Pass; the Moffat Tunnel was begun in 1923, finished in 1927 and opened in 1928. The Moffat Tunnel was 6.2 miles long, over 2400’ lower and 23 miles shorter than the line over Rollins Pass – truly an engineering feat. But the line only went as far as the coal fields near Craig CO.
In the 1930s, the Denver & Rio Grande Western and the D&SL agreed to build the Dotsero Cutoff, a connecting track between the two railroads, following the Colorado River from Bond to Dotsero at the confluence with the Eagle River. The line was opened in 1934, which shortened the route from Denver to Salt Lake via the Moffat Tunnel and Grand Junction by 175 miles over the D&SL/D&RGW route. The two roads merged in 1947, and the Moffat Line now was the mainline west of Denver for the D&RGW.