Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979
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Post 10: Freight Trains and Traffic on the Joint Line
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Last time we took a brief look
at unit coal trains on the Joint Line in the late 1970s, this time
we’ll do an overview of general freight train traffic of the era.
Three way meet in Colorado Springs
A
Santa Fe train waits in the Colorado Springs CTC siding for a
southbound Rio Grande coal
train to pass before continuing north. Meanwhile, Rock Island Train 51 holds short of the junction
for the Santa Fe to vacate the siding so that it can enter Colorado Springs yard to do its work.
Larry Green, April 1978
(click images to enlarge)
Although the Joint Line was an important freight route for all of the roads that operated on the line–the Rio Grande, the Santa Fe, and the Colorado & Southern/BN alike, traffic in terms of trains per day was relatively modest for any one of them. Typically each road carded only two pairs of freight trains a day on the line. That doesn’t sound very busy, but multiplied times three it totals 12 trains per day, which would pretty much fill my two staging yards all by themselves, never mind coal trains and extras. That total is going to have to be dialled down a bit to fit the layout.
So who ran what, what did those trains carry, and which trains need to be prioritized to support operations on the layout? And what kind of cars and motive power were typical for those trains. D&RGW GP40 3089 leads a pair of GP30s, a GP35 and another ‘40 southbound as the train
ducks under Fillmore Street on the north side of Colorado Springs. Four-axle power was typical
of Rio Grande freights on the Joint Line, although SD45s and SD40T-2s could be mixed in at times,
as could older GP9s and SD9s as they cycled through the Rio Grande’s Burnham diesel shop in Denver.
Robert Harmen, 1976
Rio Grande Trains
65 – 66
67 – 68
Denver is where the Rio Grande was born, and its original mainline first headed south to Pueblo. In Denver the Rio Grande interchanged freight traffic with the AT&SF, CB&Q/BN, C&S/BN, CRI&P and UP. In Pueblo, where the railroad finally turned compass west for the Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass, the Grande interchanged with the AT&SF, C&S, and MP. Of those roads, the CB&Q/BN, RI and MP generated the most interchange traffic for the Grande, but after the Moffat Tunnel was bored most of the CB&Q/BN and RI through traffic ran directly west, leaving the Joint Line as the Mopac’s conduit to Denver and the Grande’s gateway to/from the lower Midwest and the Southeast. Overhead traffic off the Mopac to Denver included a bit of set-up autos and TOFC, food stuffs, beer, paper, manufactured and consumer goods, mostly terminating in Denver.
Add to that a healthy volume of traffic originating on the Rio Grande proper to the south and west of Pueblo, including steel and rail produced at the sprawling Colorado Fuel & Iron mill on the southern edge of Pueblo, iron ore and scrap loads heading to CF&I, cement out of Portland on the Royal Gorge route, barley for Coors in Golden along with perlite and spuds out of the San Louis Valley, and various other metallic and mineral concentrate loads. There was also a bit of lumber off the SP that ran via Pueblo to be interchanged to the RI in Colorado Springs. Southbound non-unit train cuts of coal off the Craig Branch went to the CSDPU Martin Drake power plant in downtown Colorado Springs.
A
Rio Grande northbound with hot auto and pig traffic off the Mopac
cruises through
Colorado Springs without stopping today, the cooling
battery of the Martin Drake
power plant steaming away in the distance.
Larry Green, April 1978
Rio Grande trains linking Denver and Pueblo to handle this traffic were 65/66 and 67/68, with the odd numbers being south (west) bounds, the even north (east) bounds. Actually, you would normally see these trains referred to as 165/166 and 167/168, where the leading 1 indicates the “first” train of that number running on any particular day of the month, which was appended at the end, as in 165-21, indicating First 65 on the 21st day of the month. Occasionally a 265 train could be called to run the Joint Line, but not often.
Trains 65/66 were normally daytime runs, with 67/68 carded late evenings or very early mornings. Both train pairs could make set-outs and pick-ups at Springs yard for the local switch job to work, meaning all four model-size trains will be needed to feed operations on the layout, so four staging tracks are reserved for them. Let’s say start an operating session with an early morning 168 setting out cars to be worked that day and pick up Denver bound empties; a mid-morning 166 to set out the RI interchange block and pick up empty Drake coal hoppers; an afternoon 165 to set out Drake coal loads and pick up southbound RI interchange; with 167 running clean up at the end of the day to set-out loads and pick up Pueblo bound empties. This would balance and spread feeding cars to the yard and lifting empties across the session, keeping the yard fluid.
Mainstay power for these trains was generally GP40s, GP40-2s and GP30s, with SD40T-2s and SD45s mixed in on heavier trains as needed.
Southbound D&RGW 3016 and four EMD mates motor past the north end of Kelker siding
Robert Harmen, 1975
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Santa Fe U23B 6317 heads up two GP38s and a green BN SD40-2 on Train 314 just about
a mile north of the Colorado Springs crossovers, indicated by the faded Rock Island JCT sign
atop the white post at left beside the Rock's weed-grown tack. Note the Santa Fe Trails
International Transtar COE with two pup trailers on parallel I-25.
Larry Green, June 1976
Santa Fe Trains
314 – 414
495 – 594
194 Circa 1978-79 Santa Fe carded two pairs of freight trains a day on the Joint Line, plus a nocturnal intermodal TOFC train from Chicago to Denver with no eastbound counterpart. Santa Fe’s train numbers consisted of three digits, with the first digit indicating the origin region, the second train type, the third the destination region. Trains 314/414 were general freights handling traffic between Kansas City (3) and Denver (4) via La Junta (4) and return to LJ, located south and east of Pueblo on the trans-con passenger main over Raton Pass. These trains tended to run mainly with 4-axle EMD and GE power, typically GP39-2s, GP38s and U23Bs, but almost any power could be seen at times. Both trains set-out and picked-up in the Springs, so they are must-haves. Two more staging tracks assigned.
ATSF C-30-7 8054 and another C-boat bracketing an F45 power Train 594 north onto the single track at Crews. These Texas trains typically drew 6-axle power, and often ran north with just two units as far as La Junta or Pueblo,
where another 6-motor would be added to make the grade to Palmer Lake.
Larry Green, August 1979
Trains 495/594 handled traffic between Texas (5) and Denver (4) via the Boise City sub and La Junta. Traffic included grain, fertilizer, petrochemicals, plastics, and general freight. These were heavier trains and tended to run with 6-axle power, typically pairs of SD45s and U33Cs, often with SD39s from the Raton helper pool added in La Junta or Pueblo to get the trains up and over Palmer Lake summit, so they clearly had a different character. This train pair did no work in the Springs, plus one or the other often ran in darkness, so I only need to model one of them to feature their character. Figure run 594 north one session, then south as 495 the next. There’s another staging track spoken for.
A very late Train 194 makes a rare daylight appearance as it snakes through the S curves near Monument on its way to Big Lift.
Larry Green, May 1979
Chicago-Denver TOFC train 194 was carded to arrive in the wee morning hours at Santa Fe’s Big Lift intermodal terminal to ground the vans for delivery in the morning. Big Lift, which opened in 1976, was located between the paired main tracks in Sedalia, well south of Denver’s rail and highway congestion. Needless to say, 194 almost always ran right through the Springs without stopping, and in darkness to boot, so, much as I like modeling vintage 1970s pig trailers and flats, there’s no real reason to run the train in my regular operating schedule, only on rare occasion to scratch that itch.
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Southbound BN train 78 with three SD40-2s and an F45 has taken the Colorado Springs siding for a meet.
Larry Green, circa 1978
Colorado & Southern / Burlington Northern Trains
C&S 151 – 152
BN 77 – 78
As a tenant of the Santa Fe, C&S/BN ran only overhead traffic over the Joint Line, as although it did own trackage in the Springs, Santa Fe handled their cars and switched them for C&S. In fact, Santa Fe ran all C&S/BN trains over the Joint Line using Santa Fe crews. Often light Santa Fe and C&S tonnage would even be combined into a single train powered by pooled Santa Fe and C&S power, frequently using a pair of vintage C&S SD9s, with much grumbling from the Santa Fe engine crews.
Usually this pooling involved C&S trains 151/152 [odd north (west), even south (east)], which were long range locals that plied the C&S and FW&D between Denver and Fort Worth handling all on-line traffic along the way, including grain from Cargill in Denver, Coors beer or returning empties, oilfield pipe, bentonite clay for drilling mud, iron ore for CF&I, and company stone ballast for use south of Pueblo. BN
long distance train 77 between Texas and the Pacific Northwest runs
through Colorado Springs
led by a U33C, a U25C or U28C, and a U30C.
Right behind the power is a 60-foot flat with a tall
Boeing aircaft subassembly load, an occasional sight on the Joint Line.
Larry Green, April 1978
BN 77/78 were long distance trains handling traffic between Seattle and the Pacific Northwest and Dallas/Ft. Worth and on to Houston, including lumber and plywood, kraft paper, import automobiles, Boeing aircraft parts, and more grain. Power on C&S/BN trains was mainly 6-axle EMD and GE units. Think SD40s and '40-2s, SD45s, F45s, U33Cs.
Except for when a train was combined with a Santa Fe manifest, C&S and BN trains didn’t stop to work the Springs, so they are not strictly necessary to operate the layout, but they certainly add a distinct character. Again, only one or two need be modeled to capture the flavor. One or two more tracks spoken for.
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Eastbound Rock Island Train 50 on a cold day in 1973 just departing Roswell. Obviously the U33B had
encountered deeply drifted snow that morning on its run west with train 51. The lead wallboard load
and some of the SP lumber cars will be set out in the industrial park just ahead, the rest of the train
will continue to Limon for forwarding further east.
Rock Island Trains 50 – 51
Last up, the RI ran a daily turn into the Springs from Limon, located 77 miles to the east on the high plains where the Rock Island crossed the UP’s Kansas Pacific line to Denver. The Rock had overhead trackage rights over the UP to run their mainline traffic to Denver and thence into the Rio Grande’s North Yard, but RI daily turn trains 50/51 handled cars destined for the Springs and points south, arriving mid-day to exchange cars and work its customers. The Rock had quite a few to switch in an industrial park on the north side of the Springs in Roswell (a future layout expansion?), and also had direct or reciprocal access to a few served by the Rio Grande and Santa Fe. Interchange traffic to/from the south included lumber and building products, scrap metal, perlite loads for Johns Manville, and zinc concentrate from the NJ Zinc Eagle mine and mill at Belden on the west side of Tennessee Pass.
RI power on the line from Limon was restricted to 4-axle locomotives—usually a single or pair of anything from GP18s or rebuilt GP7s to older GEs, GP40s or the newest GP38-2s, guaranteeing a colorful consist most days.
On a warmer day in 1977 a Rock Island U28B tows Train 50’s short consist up the stiff grade out of
Colorado Springs to return to Limon. The two empty bulkhead flats could have brought in gypsum wall board,
the USLX Evans box hardboard panelling, the two 40-footers may have carried brick.
The three 2970 cuft Center Flows probably carry loads of zinc concentrate, bound for NJ Zinc’s refinery in New Jersey
on the old Erie Lackawanna. A blue Rock boxcar and a red & yellow bay window caboose bring up the rear.
Larry Green, June 1977
The Rock Island turn is an obvious must-have, and it has its own staging track on the layout east of Roswell so it doesn’t take up space in the main staging yards. That said the Rock also ran occasional detours over the Joint Line to Denver when ever the UP line was blocked or out of service for some reason. I know this happened in 1978 when UP was replacing a bridge on the KP, for example. Any extra train like that would run into Springs yard, swap power and caboose end for end, take on a Rio Grande crew, and then run north to Denver, so it would require an open staging track to tie up in.
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So, that establishes the number of trains needed to support operations on the layout at a minimum of eight, plus two coal trains, plus room for a couple extra trains for variety, leaving at least one open track in each of the two staging yards representing Denver and Pueblo at the start of an ops session. All fourteen staging tracks accounted for.
Until next time
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