I had been traveling out to the Transportation Test Center near Pueblo for several years as part of my work with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Research & Test Dept. The railroad activity around Pueblo fascinated me and I thought it would be interesting to see the Royal Gorge from track level. A friend on the D&RGW, Jim Ozment, offered to take me on a hi-rail trip up through the Gorge from Pueblo to Salida, Colorado.  It was March 31, 1989 and it had really snowed the night before. Jim couldn’t get down from Denver, but the Roadmaster in Pueblo, Robert Valdez, was ready and waiting.  We left the Pueblo yard shortly after it was light. It turned out to be an especially scenic ride because there was snow all the way up to Salida. No trains were scheduled in either direction that morning, so we had the railroad until lunch time. Robert patiently answered my questions about what his job entailed and how the railroad was maintained, and he explained some of the history of the line. But, for the most part, we just rode along looking for any trouble like fallen rocks or track defects. It was quiet and the snow made the incredible mountain scenery, track, and river even more stunning.

The ride out of Pueblo on the double track was interesting. With the snow and the low ceiling, it was like riding through a dream. As we came to Portland, east of Canon City, the yardmaster at the big cement plant there came out to greet us with a snowball. A couple of times we came upon track-men clearing switches and tightening bolts. One motor car was already in the clear but we had to stop and reline the switch so we could continue up the main. We followed another man’s motor car up to a location where he could move it off the track. Robert got out to help and I wanted to lend a hand, but he advised me to stay in the truck saying that this fellow was a bit anti-social.  Oh…kay.  So, I got a few more photos through the truck window.  Along the way up the canyon, we passed groups of mountain sheep and mule deer, saw one of the stone ‘forts’ from the infamous Royal Gorge War (1878-80), talked about winter fishing in the Arkansas River alongside the railroad, and rode through a small truss bridge and a short tunnel as we neared Salida. There being virtually no railroad business along the upper part of this line, it was a little surprising to see long strings of boxcars stored just east of Salida. When we reached the Salida yard, Robert lifted the hi-rail wheels and we went for a delicious hot lunch at a diner on the east edge of town, after which we headed back down to Pueblo on US Highway 50.

I’ve driven through Salida many times since moving to Colorado later that year and always think about that trip and of the diner. Rarely have I seen snow all the way up the river like we had that day. The railroad is still there but most of it is out of service—railbanked is the term, and the diner is long gone. Passenger trains still run through the Gorge from Canon City, which it is a trip well worth taking any time of year. And trainloads of stone quarried just west of the Gorge still run down to Pueblo and up to Colorado Springs. Otherwise, the Tennessee Pass line is as quiet today as it was when it was covered in snow that day almost thirty-three years ago.

Peter Conlon – Photographs and text Copyright 2022