EXPLORING THE TENNESSEE PASS |COLORADO| 

Well, Union Pacific’s lifeless Tennessee Pass Line has been a hot commodity over the last year or so. The Colorado Pacific Railroad wants to lease the route to move agriculture product, while the Rio Grande Pacific has plans for a line that would carry both freight and passengers. It is still unclear if the Rio Grande Pacific plan will include the transport of oil. Union Pacific is supporting the Rio Grande Pacific version to develop service on the Tennessee Pass Line to move freight and passengers. It has agreed to lease the line to Rio and insists it is not negotiating with other companies. However, Rio Grande Pacific is facing a lawsuit involving the Uinta Basin Railway project in Utah. Already approved by the Surface Transportation Board, the project could transport up to 350,000 barrels of waxy crude oil on Union Pacific’s Moffat Line, which is active, through Dotsero in western Eagle County and along the Colorado River en route to Denver and Gulf Coast refineries. Eagle County and other environmental groups filed the lawsuit. The question is would the transport of oil happen on the Tennessee Pass Line? Rio Grande Pacific officials insist it would not use Tennessee Pass to move oil. In fact, Rio Grande Pacific recently amended its lease with Union Pacific to exclude the presence of hazardous materials on the Tennessee Pass Line. Eagle County officials claim they have not heard from Rio Grande Pacific in months regarding the project, and Chaffee County (Colorado) commissioners wonder if the crude oil would be included under the hazardous material definition. The STB rejected an expedited deal by Colorado Midland & Pacific, which is working with Rio Grande, to lease the Tennessee Pass Line. The Colorado Pacific Railroad said if the STB grants a lease request involving Colorado Midland & Pacific and Union Pacific it will not eliminate the underlying issue of whether crude oil, coal, or hazardous commodities traverse the line "because Union Pacific is the underlying owner of the rail and it cannot refuse to transport those commodities if someone makes a reasonable request for service." Colorado Pacific wants the Tennessee Pass to serve as a viable alternative to Union Pacific’s Moffat Tunnel route for freight traffic. The company also offered a daily roundtrip passenger service between Pueblo and Minturn, Colorado, but does not believe there is enough population to support such a move and pulled the idea.

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Yeah what a mess

The danger can be worse. In my college days in Tennessee my dorm mate took me t a remote part of Tennessee near the Kentucky border. Short story new mining laws required extra operational considerations the mine owners either could not afford or could not comply. They took everything of value except the explosives. In the four mines visited there were tons of dynamite and blasting caps. I knew this could fall into the wrong hands. We reclaimed the stable new explosives for use on his families farm, lots of rocks in the pastures. The remaining we wired and detonated in place after a very thorough search of the area. No one was hurt and I am glad someone from a radical group did not discover the explosives. Be careful around old mines the danger is the old blasting caps they can explode very easily because manufacturing mistakes before the 60's.

“scar and pollute the land” The earth isn’t sacred, my dude.

yeah crazy what 20 years can do

I agree, heard a short line is supposed to buy it.

Loved those sd40t-2 they ran a ton of them Thur the pass during those times right?

As of a Dec. 2020 a shortline plans to lease the line from UP, hopefully this will mean a full reactivation

Good to know, thanks.

And lead but started out as silver.

A rail cart would be awesome

I remember wen they did some maintenance on the the tracks, prob 15 years ago, came up through Edwards fixing the ballast

What Railroad company is going to open this back up and when?...

Two years later, and your co-workers are still correct. Line still dead and rotting away. Current estimates of almost $280 MILLION dollars to rebuild this line. Not even remotely cost effective to put this line back in service.

good to know!

Matthew Wolff good thing I’m a UP employee, lol.

@@wd840films Me too! I guess they must not care too much.

Matthew Wolff yeah they don’t like everything else.

They won't open the line because it now ends at Pueblo. UP removed the old Missouri Pacific mainline that ran east of Pueblo effectively eliminating any future potential through freight trains over the line. If they reopened the line they would have to run trains north along the I-25 corridor towards Denver or south over Raton Pass. I don't see either scenario happening.

@@HitsTownUSA Then we are in agreement.

I hope the rail line is put back into service

@@wd840films It is a Rio Grande Pacific company that belongs to a short lines holding company (I don't know if it is independent or it is from the G&W group or the WATCO group) that is interested in reopening the route through TN Pass and from Union Pacific they had confirmed said negotiations.

@@LeitoCristofoli9022 good to hear, it will be interesting to see what unfolds

@@wd840films The last thing I read on the subject a few months ago is that the STB had raised many objections to the Rio Grande Pacific project.

@@LeitoCristofoli9022 yeah id be surprised if it gets approved

Ill have to look that up!

right here. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VDV8RlpUWbM.html

Thanks!

Okay right on good to know👍🏻

Are you sure it's not silver and gold? ⛄

@@davidurban6813 or was it frankincense and myrrh lol

I think they just wanted to cut costs by having to upkeep two different lines in the same area.

Scott Boberek www.realvail.com/two-companies-hope-to-revive-passenger-freight-rail-service-on-tennessee-pass-line/a9538/#:~:text=The%20Tennessee%20Pass%20Line%20runs,the%20Colorado%20River%20through%20Glenwood

@@zitiziti Key word is hope. Lots of trackwork would have to be done. And for what if no established customer base exists + 2-3% grades. Doesn't seem realistic. We will see.

Yeah it’s UP property, luckily I was an employee of theirs at the time lol.

@@wd840films I figured as much. Would love to take this hike but don't especially want to end up with a trespass :( thanks for letting us live vicariously through you tho :)

@@R_-_G no problem lol, glad I got the chance to do it!

Birmingham-Rail Productions. Thanks much appreciated!

Yup

The Climax molybdenum mine is just a few miles away.

I heard would be cool to see.

I think the altitude keeps you safe if it’s 9,000 10,000 feet your okay , the foothills our a different story !

@@steveboemker6337 Timber Rattlers love the high elevation at 9 and 10,000 feet.

The town was Gilman. It was too toxic to live in.

It’s all their, pretty neat.

That is really old equipment. The only value is for museum collections, of which there are few for this and scrap metal. It's better off leaving it where it is.

Park off the side of the road going to red cliff near the bridge and hike the rail down👍🏻

i use to live there in cotopaxi colorado and i have always wished that they would reopen the tennessee pass so i can sit on my front portch and watch the train go by as it goes through the old crossing im near at.

Yes it is

@@cwshawk wow I thought it was model or something I admit I'd like both trains in HO scale

Don’t believe so but who knows, they change there minds daily

No. UP isn’t *EVER* gonna run trains on it again. To dangerous

Cold Case Files. There still hope though. UP always declines the sale as they are so greedy. Keep your fingers crossed.

Scott Boberek www.realvail.com/two-companies-hope-to-revive-passenger-freight-rail-service-on-tennessee-pass-line/a9538/#:~:text=The%20Tennessee%20Pass%20Line%20runs,the%20Colorado%20River%20through%20Glenwood

@@railfanlynx but they are in talks about leasing to a short line for tourist scenic rail route