Western Railroad Discussion > Question about D&RGW's line between Walsenburg and Alamosa

I assume this line was originally three-foot gauge and later converted?

Did this conversion result in a dual-gauge line between Walsenburg and Alamosa, or did they go straight from three-foot to standard gauge?

When was this line converted?

Not much found on the internet

Thanks in advance.

Several good books out there on La Veta Pass.  The original route was part of the D&RG narrow gauge system.  Part of that original grade over the pass on the original alignment can be driven today.  The standard gauge route was completed in 1899 over a different alignment on the pass.  There are actually three pass crossings referred to in some way as "La Veta Pass."  From north to south is US Hwy. 160 that crosses North La Veta Pass (or "New La Veta Pass"), the original narrow gauge alignment that crosses "Old La Veta Pass," and the current railroad crossing over "Veta Pass."  One seldom hears much reference to the current crossing of the pass by its "Veta Pass" name; the station at the summit is railroad-named "Fir."  Most of all three crossings were encompassed within the perimeter of the 2018 Spring Fire that pretty much toasted up most of the forest.  The still-standing railroad buildings at the top of Old La Veta Pass on the narrow gauge alignment were saved, however.   The current railroad alignment over the pass is nearly all on private land with no general public access close to the tracks on the pass itself. 

As an aside, until the SLRG era, 6-axle diesel power was prohibited west of Walsenburg.  The SLRG (often referred to locally as "the Slurg") has used 6-axle power periodically since then.  Just today, I happened to be driving north of Antonito, Colorado and saw the local trundling south (timetable west) on the branch, with a light PRLX ex-CSX SD-70M running in reverse to Antonito, presumably to pick up some cars there.  I would have snapped a photo, but I was hung up in road construction zone with pulling off not permitted.  I saw UP SD-70s in Alamosa last winter, as well.  The old D&RGW track guys always said that 6-axle power pushed curves out of alignment over La Veta.  From what I've heard that has happened to the SLRG, too--but they still use 6-axle power sometimes.

There are also photos of D&RGW L-131   2-8-8-2's  and 2-10-2   and 4-8-4 M-70s in Alamosa meaning that they came in on Veta Pass.  So one has to wonder why the Rio Grande would say no 6 axel diesels.

Very helpful, thanks

The original 1878 narrow gauge line crossed the Sangre de Christo Range at Veta Pass.  This was a typical narrow gauge line with miles of 4% grades and 30 degree curves.  When it came time to standard gauge the route in the late 1890's it was determined the alignment was not suitable for rebuilding as a standard guage route, so a new railroad was built essentially in the next valley to the south.  The crossing of the range was called "La Veta Pass".  The new route was longer but reduced the grades to 3% and the maximum curvture to 16 degrees.

Not long after the standard gauge was finished, the Rio Grande determined that having two stations named "La Veta" (the town at the eastern base of the hill) and "La Veta Pass" (the top of the hill) was too confusing, so the summit was renamed "Fir".

The narrow gauge line was in service for a short while after the new standard gauge was put in service in 1899.  Sometime after than the narrow gauge grade was turned into a road and eventually US 160 was routed over Veta Pass. Sometimes referred to by locals as "Old La Veta Pass".  In the early 1960's US 160 was re-aligned over the hill, the new route to the north of Veta Pass is called "North La Veta Pass".

A short portion of the narrow gauge line eastern side of the hill was re-laid as standard gauge in 1912 to serve a coal mine. It was torn up in 1938.

tomstp Wrote:
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> There are also photos of D&RGW L-131   2-8-8-2's
>  and 2-10-2   and 4-8-4 M-70s in Alamosa meaning
> that they came in on Veta Pass.  So one has to
> wonder why the Rio Grande would say no 6 axel
> diesels.

Steam locomotives have more lateral motion in thier drivers than diesels.  Also the big power had Lateral Motion Devices in the driving boxes of the lead drivers to make to easier on the track.  The 2-10-2's had lateral motion devices on the front and rear driver sets.

There are variations in lateral motion and steering axles on 6-axle diesels.
In my experience the 6-axle Alcos  and Baldwins were the worst, it wasn't so much pushing the track out of line as it was widening the track gauge.
SD-9s, back in the day  were easiest on curves and the SP assigned them to many branch lines.  (They also had relatively low axle loading).

To expand a bit on track maintenance over La Veta:  some old D&RGW MOW people that I know explained that, after standard gauge steam locomotive use ended 1956, quite a bit of track maintenance started being deferred west of Walsenburg.  That affected track stability.  Moreover, deferred maintenance on fills and cuts meant that, over time, some curves actually became sharper.  With all of that, it was simply cheaper for the D&RGW to restrict the lines west of Walsenburg to 4-axle power.  

In the pre-SP and UP days, the D&RGW also had plenty of 4-axle power to use.  While D&RGW diesels were always grungy looking ("We paint 'em black so we don't have to wash 'em."), the D&RGW generally kept its motive power in very good mechanical condition.  Proof of that was the unrebuilt GP-30's were still running on the D&RGW until the 1990's.  GP-35's also lasted far longer than they did on most railroads, though the D&RGW converted them to "B" units, removing their cab controls.  Both classes were commonly used west of Walsenburg, along with GP-40's and an occasional GP-9..

Not that 6-axle power did not mistakenly be assigned to trains heading to Alamosa.  In the early 1990's, I saw an SP SD-45 sitting in Alamosa one morning.  I asked a friend who was a Conductor out of Alamosa how that happened.  He explained that the Pueblo hostler crew mistakenly put the SD-45 as the far trailing unit in their lashup.  Because the Alamosa train generally was called to leave Pueblo well after dark, no one noticed the SD-45 at the rear of the lashup.  The Conductor allowed that the train "pulled really well" over La Veta that night, but that the track crew was really unhappy about it the next day.  Oops.

The GP9s were more than occasional having seen them many times as local power out of Alamosa.

Out

there was  a trio of gp30's on the south local that lasted late

That trio wandered around, it was on the Mina Local for over a month.

Out

Those SD70s have radial trucks and so did the SD90/43s they had. Easy on curves.

SD45X Wrote:
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> Those SD70s have radial trucks and so did the
> SD90/43s they had. Easy on curves.

According to some SLRG engineers that I know, the operable term would be "easier," not necessarily "easy."  They still have some track problems with the 6-axle piower, even with their radial trucks.

It will be interesting if the SLURG can survive trusteeship, if the cash flow is adquate to keep the line alive.  Others have a lot more current info, but it always seemed to me that the challenge was the cost of maintaining an expensive piece of railroad that the Rio Grande had never really upgraded to modern standards....primarily a lot of old light rail that the Rio Grande never quite got around to replacing. So MOW expenses were/are high.  The curves over the pass are often mentioned, but there is/was also the miles of speed restrictions on the straightaway between Alamosa and Fort Garland.  I suppose the good news is the revenue might be enough to cover operating costs, and government loves to provide "capital" grants that could perhaps upgrade the line and reduce operating expenses.  And southern Colorado is a generally poor area that makes it a candidate for "economic development" grants.  But there are many many miles of expensive mountain railroad to fix, so I am not holding my breath.  Here is a picture from happier times. 

JBWX



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/19 08:56 by jbwest.

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The narrow gauge depot at La Veta Pass is still quite accessible and is known as Uptop. I'm more curious about the standard gauge depot. I would like to take some photographs there but I'm not sure how accessible it is. Does anyone know if there is a road close or does the scenic train stop at Fir? I had family members that lived at that town and worked as telegraph operators for several years (1900-1914 is a rough guess).