Nostalgia & History > A Promise Kept

Beginning in 1985, the Denver & Rio Grande Western offered piggyback trailer service between Denver and Salt Lake City for $299 delivered. The 'Railblazer' sprint trains guaranteed a 14 hour delivery time between to the two capital cities. They departed their originating terminals at 5:55 p.m. arriving at Denver or at Salt Lake City by 8:00 a.m. Typically, the westbound trains had more traffic than the eastbound.

Historically, the Rio Grande offered terrific customer service, with a delivery guaranteed even when the consist was light. Here the eastbound version, train #102 heads through Springville, Utah with only three trailers on July 30, 1989.

Thanks for taking a look back at my favorite railroad, 'The Action Road' . . .

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

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Through The Mountains, Not Around Them

Great Shot! Sometimes you eat Bear, sometimes the Bear eats You!...Think the D&RGW lost $$ on this run...Steve PS- Rio Grande detector "Total axles...short! Extremely Short!!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/12 13:03 by the_expediter.

Thanks! I love seeing pics of these Railblazers. Anyone with others to add?

I'm dating myself but BITCHIN! What an awesome little train that would have been to run. I'm sure the agreement to run this reduced crew train prohibited it from doing any work enroute and they obviously lost money on this one.
JB



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/12 19:59 by 3rdswitch.

ala prospector

I'm a big fan of the Railblazer and have been collecting models in HO to model this train. I'm always happy to see photo's of the real train - in fact I would be willing to pay for a color book with nothing but photo's of the Railblazer!

I'll second the last statement! A full-color, at least 60 page, book o fthis train would be really cool to have! I feel that I've even seen a shot of an eastbounder with a few covered hoppers added to the back. I wonder if they were picked up along the way or added in Roper?

Rick

drgwguy Wrote:
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> I'll second the last statement! A full-color, at
> least 60 page, book o fthis train would be really
> cool to have! I feel that I've even seen a shot of
> an eastbounder with a few covered hoppers added to
> the back. I wonder if they were picked up along
> the way or added in Roper?

By 1990, the D&RGW began to run the Blazers on Saturdays and Sundays with the usual trailers and other 'filler' tonnage (auto racks and other freight cars). That may have been what you saw.

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> I'm dating myself but BITCHIN!
> JB


I'll see your BITCHIN and raise you a FAROUT!

Reminds me of the airline (Eastern?) that offered shuttle service between New York and Washington DC. They promised that if a flight was ever full to capacity, they'd call another plane and crew so that no one would be left behind. As I recall the story, this finally happened, and lucky for the airline it was a slow news day, so the sight of ONE passenger getting on a full-size jet transport got great coverage--the cost of fuel and crew outweighed by the publicity. Needless to say, this was a loooooooong time ago.

DNRY122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reminds me of the airline (Eastern?) that offered
> shuttle service between New York and Washington
> DC. They promised that if a flight was ever full
> to capacity, they'd call another plane and crew so
> that no one would be left behind.

In the seventies I saw this quite often and I often flew on the "second section." Yes, they called it the second section. No green flags, though. The second section planes and crews were at the terminal always ready to go.

The big Roadblazer billboard, that was outside Denver,that advertised the service, showing two geep's flying by with trailer's in tow was great. Thank's James for posting!!

Neat photo... Even an SP Golden Pig Service trailer... :-)