Western Railroad Discussion > Colorado railfans: What is meant by Dotsero Cutoff?

Okay, I know where Dotsero is. East of Glenwood Canyon and close to the junction of the Moffat Line coming from Bond and the (now inactive) Tennessee Pass line. Been by it many times on
I-70. What I dont know is what specific stretch of track this refers to and the origin of this term. Cutoff would seem to imply a railroad line that was constructed in order to provide a shorter distance than a previous routing. Anyone know how the term Dotsero Cutoff got started?
TIA for the history lesson!

I'm not a fan living in Colorado, but I am a D & RGW fan. The origin of Dotsero is Dot Zero.

Dave

The cutoff allowed the D&RGW to cut 175 miles off it's Denver-Salt Lake route by bypassing Pueblo and using the Moffat line to Denver. The 40 mile section of track connected to the D&RGW's original mainline at Dotsero and to the D&SL at Bond, CO. It opened in June 1934. It turned the D&SL's line west of Denver to nowhere, into a through route.

TME

In addition to what Tyler's comments, if you want more history, do a Google Search on "David Moffat".

Thanks TME. That's a revelation to me, to find out that until 1934 the Tennessee Pass was on the DRGW main line from Salt Lake to Denver. Quite an historical nugget there.

If you want more amazing historical nuggets about Tenessee Pass, remember that when the line was built it was narrow gauge, and was only standard gauged after competition from Colorado Midland RR came into the picture. Had the Rio Grand not standard gauged, some would say the Midland may have been able to find the financial backers it needed to build further west to Salt Lake, which would have bypassed the narrow gauge Rio Grand line. Had that come to pass, history would have been far different than it turned out to be. We could have been wishing for a return of traffic to Haggarman Pass instead of Tenessee Pass, and who knows where The Moffat Line would have ended up.

But no, I don't know where the name Dotsero came from, only that the original name for Bond was Orestod, which is Dotsero spelled backward.

- Kit

The east end of Bond siding was called "Orestod" which is Dotsero backwards? I think it was a play on words when the cutoff was built

All of the answers are correct.

The milepost equation at Orestod is "342.0" via the original route via Tennessee Pass and "166.8" via the Moffat line.

eatontm Wrote:
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<snip>
> A view at Dotsero, CO looking RR east again but
> geographically north. The original main over
> Tennessee Pass follows the Eagle River to right.
> This westbound empty coal train is at the western
> end of the cutoff.
>
> TME

Nice angle there at Dotsero, Tyler. Haven't seen that one before.
I wondered whether BNSF was still running any coal trains over the Moffat to Utah; When was this shot taken?
Thanks,
-Wes

I wish they were but to my knowledge BNSF hasn't ran any in well over a year. This was a UP coal train with all BNSF power. Sometimes coal empties off the KP have some rather odd consists, but 99% of the time new power is added at North Yard. This was one of the 1% times they just sent it west. May 2005.

DRGW Wrote:
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> I wondered whether BNSF was still running any coal
> trains over the Moffat to Utah; When was this shot
> taken?
> Thanks,
> -Wes

In 1998 we took our 1997 Yukon and our bikes to Glenwood Canyon and checked into a motel for 4 or 5 days. We took our bikes and were shuttled up to Dotsero and rode then back DOWN that wonderful rec trail along the river under the cantilevered highway 70 for 18 miles back to Glenwood. It was glorious. I would love to do it again.
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

One of the most common "tall" stories is that "Dotsero" was a bastardization of "Dot Zero." IT'S NOT. Dotsero was one of the leaders of the Ute Indian tribe. A couple of other D&RG locations named for Utes were Ouray (the chief), Ignacio, and Sapinero. Many of the Ute names were translated into Spanish. Because of this, many of the names are mispronounced. "Ouray" is a great example. The phonetic Spanish spelling of his name was Uré, which would be pronounced "ooo-ray." When the name was translated to English spelling, it morphed into "Ouray." Today, many people, including some local residents, mispronounce it "You-ray." One of the "old-line" families where I used to live were descended from people who knew the chief personally--they said he pronounced it "Ooo-ray." I digress, but place name history is an important part of the old D&RG.

GeneL Wrote:
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> Thanks TME. That's a revelation to me, to find
> out that until 1934 the Tennessee Pass was on the
> DRGW main line from Salt Lake to Denver. Quite an
> historical nugget there.

To take this a step further, TP was NOT the original DRG mainline.
The original mainline (all NG) went via Marshall Pass, Gunnison,
Montrose, Delta and Grand Junction until the segment between TP
and Grand Junction was completed.

Bryan
CO J/L
MP 88

Is that tree shaded area on the left in the first photo a public park? It looks inviting.

hogantunnel Wrote:
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> Is that tree shaded area on the left in the first
> photo a public park? It looks inviting.

No, that is the former site of the crew hotel at Bond. It was torn down several years ago. Crews are now "Renzenberger-ed" to the Oak Tree Inn at Yampa. Denver-Phippsburg ("P-burg") crews also stay there.

WW Wrote:
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> One of the most common "tall" stories is that
> "Dotsero" was a bastardization of "Dot Zero."
> IT'S NOT. Dotsero was one of the leaders of the
> Ute Indian tribe.

So, I guess this explanation of the name's origin would be really wrong:

http://www.dotsero.org/

Then click on "Biography"