Hey Kids, there's a @Hyce777 in here somewhere in this video... Let me know where you see Hyce at.
Anyways, is this the most famous individual locomotive in all of Colorado? The Rio Grande Southern 20 was built in 1899 by the forerunner of ALCO (The American Locomotive Company), the Schenectady Locomotive Company in New York. The 20 was built for the fame Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad, a 3 foot gauge railroad that ran from the Cripple Creek Mining District through Phantom Canyon to Florence on the Denver and Rio Grande's original mainline (For the uninitiated, Florence is just east of Cañon City, the home of today's 'Royal Gorge Route' scenic train with its vintage EMD's that roll through the Royal Gorge). The F&CC ran until 1912 when the railroad was washed away in the canyon. With the increased competition from the Midland Terminal which connected to the national railroad system via the standard gauge Colorado Midland required no transloading from narrow gauge cars. The F&CC equipment languished for a few years, with nearly all the motive power sold off to other railroads. One, the # 3, the Elkton, was sold to the Denver and Rio Grande and became it's C-18 # 425 (later becoming D&RGW 315 after the 1921 reorganization.) The railroad's # 20, the "Portland:", was sold to the Rio Grande Southern, a struggling railroad in southwestern Colorado. The RGS was built in 1890 and three years after was bankrupted by the Silver Panic of 1893. The Southern left Durango and headed southwest before traveling back to Hesperus (fun fact, the dog scene in National Lampoon's 'Vacation' was shot just off the RGS grade). It headed west to Mancos, though Lost Canyon to Dolores where it followed the Dolores River to Lizard Head Pass where it dropped down to the San Miguel Valley using a looping pattern down to Ophir and branched off to the now- ski town of Telluride. Further along it went up over Dallas Divide where it then dropped into the Uncompahgre Valley and Uncompahgre Valley at Ridgway. In Ridgeway, it connected to the D&RG's Ouray Branch that came south from the main line at Montrose and Grand Junction. # 20 joined a fleet of aging locomotives that the Rio Grande Southern rostered, most cast off from the Denver and Rio Grande Western with at least one coming from the Colorado and Southern. The 20 toiled along until the end, most of the time in freight service, as passenger trains were soon taken over by The Galloping Goose (enter C.W. McCall...). The 20 pulled special trains also, for groups such as the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club. The 20 even ventured up today's Durango and Silverton as it posed as the 'Emma Sweeney' in the movie 'A Ticket to Tomahawk' along side uncredited actors Jack Elam and Marilyn Monroe.
After abandonment, the 20 traveled over Cumbres to Alamosa where the RMRRC took ownership and put her on display at the Narrow Gauge Motel, an establishment that eventually became today's Colorado Railroad Museum (@crrm ). From 1951 until 2006, the locomotive sat at the sites until it was sent to the east coast for the first time since construction. While there, it was at the Strasburg Railroad and its machine shop having major boiler and frame work done and it returned to Golden in 2019.
Following its return to service in 2020, the locomotive hit the road in 2021 making a stop in Cripple Creek for the first time since the 1910's. Next, she kept trucking down the San Luis Valley to Antonito and the Cumbres and Toltec where it was in steam for the Victorian Iron Horse Roundup, a meet up of 1870's to 1890's engines which included 315, 'The Eureka' owned by Dan Markoff originally built for the Eureka and Palisade Railway in Nevada. The Glenbrook, a 2-6-0 built at the same time as the 4, from the Lake Tahoe and Navigation Railroad, now owned by the Nevada state Railroad museum. And finally, the C&TS's own 168, another 4-6-0 originally built fort he Denver and Rio Grande.
So join me as we follow the 20 as she makes appearances during the VIHR as she makes test runs at the Antonito YardLimit (yard limit, yard limits?) where she was watched over by the CRRM Crew. Next, we also go on the Sunset of the RGS charter arranged by Trains Magazine and its late editor Jim Wrinn. When we see # 20 solo, we're on Pete Lerro's charters in September. We'll stop at Hangman's Trestle, Gravity Hill, Whiplash Curve, Sublette, Toltec, Toltec Gorge and Osier. You'll see no distant signals on this line, it's all dark territory, nor will you see any Coaster trains, as there's no commuters. Join me as we take a look at what's arguably the most famous locomotive in Colorado.
3 фев 2023
