Steam & Excursion > A Modern Example Of A Lines Success Outliving It's Original Gauge

There are certain rail lines that had success so far beyond the dream of their original founders that they had the enviable job of needing to be rebuilt to handle the unexpected new traffic levels.  This is one such line.

The Monarch Branch of the Denver & Rio Grand Western was originally built in the 1880's as narrow gauge as that was expected to handle all the traffic ever planned for that line.  However, as the years went by and other portions of the D&RGW narrow gauge system in area around Monarch, Colorado dwindled, the shipments from the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company kept up in such heavy volumes that even when the rest of the Salida to Gunnison narrow gauge mainline was closed in 1956, the decision was made to standard gauge the Monarch Branch to keep it in service.

In this photo, taken in the early 1950's, D&RGW K-36 #483 leads a loaded train of narrow gauge gondola cars down the steep grade of the line before the conversion to standard gauge had begun.

Unfortunately, in the early 1980's the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company finally shut down which caused all traffic on the standard gauge Monarch Branch to cease and it was finally town up after nearly 100 years of operation.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/19 02:24 by LoggerHogger.

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Trains mag had a before-and-after article on this line many years ago. What was the traffic? I'm guessing maybe limestone for the steel mill?

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Trains mag had a before-and-after article on this
> line many years ago. What was the traffic? I'm
> guessing maybe limestone for the steel mill?

Yes, your clue is the white limestone rock in the gons behind the locomotive in the picture.

Colorado Fuel & Iron at Pueblo was a basic steel mill for decades, then changed to a re-melt scrap steel electric arc mill.
Thus they no longer needed limestone (flux), iron ore, or coal.
They went through several corporate changes including breaking the United Steel  Workers union and changing to a continuous casting method, and the old mill is now in foreign ownership but still making steel rail and structural shapes.
Their legacy is the many miles of CF&I rail and barbed wire fence in the west.

With snow on the ground my eye looked right past the gons. 

Nickatnight

nickatnight Wrote:
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> With snow on the ground my eye looked right past
> the gons. 
>
> Nickatnight

What snow on the ground?