Nostalgia & History > Tennessee Pass RIP

Just "posted" this under a thread on Western Railroads. Figured this section was more appropriate however.

I missed the the purely Black and Gold years, the closest I came was family vacations in 90 and 92'. However, I spent part of the summer of 1995, and all of the summers of 96 and 97 on Tennessee Pass. It was my favorite place on the planet. I sure miss it!
Summer of 1997. Tennessee Pass. Mitchell, Colorado.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/14 17:33 by jc76.

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I share your pain. Thanks for the photo! I was lucky enough to get some Rio Grande and SP power on the line before it went down.

Carl Graves, Lawrence, KS

Well, at least you made it...I never did and I deeply regret it to this day!! After looking at many pictures in many locations posted here on "The Pass" over the years, it seems as though the two most popular locations are the Mitchell curves and Pando, not necessarily in that order. Camping trackside back then I'll bet was pretty special. Yep, I blew it! Thanks for sharing this look back.

Kent in CArmel Valley

I suppose Mitchell was popular due to accessibility, and the fact that curvature, grade and elevation put on a great show in the Mitchell area, bringing trains down to a crawl. The backdrops in this area also made it quite photogenic...

I spent many nights camped at Pando in the back of a 4 cylinder S15 GMC Pick-Up truck. I remember that ole' truck would only make 20mph on the climb out of Red Cliff.


One June night camped at Pando, I can remember hearing a heavy lumber drag climbing the hill with two sets of helpers. It sounded like those EMD's on the headend were coming rite thru the tent. For an hour you could hear the train as it powered along the Cliff, thru Deen tunnel and up towards Mitchell. Quite an Awesome memory! Another June night I remember waking with my tent covered in Ice. Frozen condensation...

Then there was the summer in 95' when my very good looking collage girlfriend got more than one train crew acknowledgment with a blast of a horn and two sets of heads and hands waving out one side window, I suppose it could have been me but when she wasn't there I never quite got that kind of attention :-) ....


Fun Memories!

jc76 Wrote:
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> Fun Memories!

Yes they were! Fortunately I got to experience the Pass from both inside the cab and out on the ground. I consider myself very lucky!

You, Frank, Paul, Mike and Fred lived the railfan dream :) I WAS 5 MONTHS too late :(

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/14 20:09 by jc76.

First time I saw it was in '88. It had to be the most awesome show on earth BD (Before Diesels)

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> First time I saw it was in '88. It had to be the
> most awesome show on earth BD (Before Diesels)


Yes it was, Frisco! My dad would always go there at night when we were on vacation and we'd chase articulateds and other engines 'til dawn! He'd pace beside them on the highway for hours! He'd drive with his right hand and throw switch lantern signals to the hoghead with his left hand and they always whistled back different signals! I have no idea what they were sayin', but I sure thought my dad was real important! I would say it had to be in the early to mid 50's. My mom and my younger brothers all stayed at the motel 'til dad and I would come draggin' in at daylight! We'd rest a few hours and be back on the road to Denver and Colorado Springs where all my moms people lived. Great times for an 8 or 9 year old kid out with the "old man"!

Well I would say you made up for what you missed with that amazing photo, that's sweet. I never got to see it but it's one of my favorites to see in DVD form.

What a great story about chasing steam with your dad all night on "The Pass"....WoW how awesome!

It's still hard to believe we are quickly approaching 20 years since the rails went silent.....

Posted from Android

Excellent shot.

~Ryan

Camp out at Camp Hale and listen to ebs eave Minturn in the middle of the night. Got some great cassette taps of that in the mid 80s

We always went to Colorado on vacations in the late 1940's and early 50's. Never will forget the first time in Salida seeing those 2-8-8-2's at the coaling tower. I had never seen engines that big or dirty. The coal haze hovered over the whole town. It was amazing but not as grand as those big ones going up the hill 3 to train. Truly a site not to be forgotten and the noise, wow!

Even in diesel days it was a grand show and you could hear them coming for an hour before they showed up. Minturn was a fascinating place too.

Great image & composition! Except for stumbling across a Monarch branch train one day in '77 I never got the chance to shoot Tennessee Pass, or that part of Colorado in ANY era... :^(

Lance

Can someone invent a time machine? I'd pay to go back and take a look!

A beautiful photo from a spectacular location! Thanks for sharing...

ShastaDaylight

I heard UP is going to start running trains over Tennessee Pass again.










** Sorry. Couldn't resist. There's a little bit of "troll" in all of us.** ;)

Yuh know, mid-eighties when we were out there kickin around with the Unocal
shale thing there was talk of crude over the Pass down to the Gulf as maybe
required since the local refining was looking pretty limited. The shale
project got dropped because of the outrageous $28/barrel recovery cost and
what to do with all that shale after we squeezed the oil out of it but hey,
could have been the salvation of the Pass.

Out

I made one trip there and caught a Rio Grande mostly powered train in the snow climbing the pass. I will never forget it.

Chris

That's a gorgeous image. Outstanding.It makes me kick myself even more for not getting up there. I lived in Texas for 4 years in the 80's but never took the trip. A few Rio Grande coal and grainers did make it my way though.