The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, "Main Line Thru The Rockies"

The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, also known as simply the Rio Grande, is one our country’s most famous railroads. Its speed-lettering herald is likewise one of the most recognized of all time and people continue to flock to its scenic routes to travel trains such as the California Zephyr, now operated by Amtrak, and the Durango & Silverton, perhaps the most famous tourist line in the country which operates several miles of the D&RGW’s former narrow-gauge trackage in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. While the railroad officially became a fallen flag in 1996 when the Union Pacific took over the Southern Pacific the railroad’s identity had mostly disappeared before that when its parent company Rio Grande Industries purchased the SP in 1988 and began consolidating D&RGW operations into the much larger railroad.

The Rio Grande has an interesting if somewhat complicated history. Like many of the now-famous fallen flag railroads, it was created through mergers and acquisitions of smaller railroads. Its predecessors’ primary purpose for being built was to conquer the Rocky Mountain range and link Denver with Salt Lake City, Utah. This would come later, however, as the new and prospering town of Denver chartered the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1870 to build south, wanting the railroad to reach El Paso, Texas and eventually Mexico but after it came under the control of Jay Gould in 1880 it took on a new direction and would only make it as far south as Santa Fe, New Mexico.

After its southern expansions the D&RG set out to head west towards Salt Lake City which it reached in 1883 after it connected with its subsidiary the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway (later named the Rio Grande Western) which had been building east from the city. One interesting aspect of the railroad, which continues to this day with the Durango & Silverton, was that it used the narrow-gauge three-foot track alignment to complete its line to Salt Lake City to save on construction costs. The drawback resulted in the fact that most railroads by the late 19th century were either switching or had already done so to the standard-gauge alignment of four-feet, eight and half inches which caused interchanging problems and delays.

By 1890 the railroad had completed an upgraded route to Salt Lake City and in the process it became highly demanded as a means of shipping goods efficiently over the Rockies from Denver. How the D&RG and its affiliates became the now-famous Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad was actually a result of bankruptcy. In the early 20th century the D&RG owned the Western Pacific, a railroad building east from the Pacific Coast at Oakland to Salt Lake City. The WP would fall into bankruptcy taking its owner with it and in the subsequent reorganization in 1921 the railroad would emerge known as the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.

The new Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad would become a very profitable railroad for much of the rest of its life acting as a bridge line hauling freight headed to and from the Pacific Coast via other railroads such as its affiliate the Western Pacific, Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and the Burlington (CB&Q).

Besides the railroad’s famed narrow-gauge lines two other future ventures would earn the railroad legendary status. At the Continental Divide northwest of Denver, the Rio Grande completed its famous Moffat Tunnel in 1928, some 6.1-miles in length and in doing so bypassed the torturous Rollins Pass, over 11,000 feet in height! The new tunnel cut down transit times over that section of main line from several hours to mere minutes and further strengthened the line’s demand as a high-speed connection over the Rockies.

Even more famous than the tunnel was the introduction of a joint passenger train by the Burlington, Rio Grande, and WP in 1949 known as the California Zephyr deliberately routed for passengers to witness the stunning beauty offered over the Rio Grande’s main line through the Rockies. Not surprisingly the train was an instant hit with the public and did so well that the Rio Grande elected not to include it in Amtrak in 1971 and would rename the train the Rio Grande Zephyr. The train by then was so well known that Amtrak did not hesitate to keep it in service when the Rio Grande finally did elect to relinquish the train in the early 1980s and even honored it by renaming it back to the California Zephyr in 1983.

On paper its somewhat amazing that the Denver and Rio Grande Western became so famous for so many things as in terms of operations it was a rather small railroad in the amount of lines it owned, accumulating less than 2,500 miles at its peak. Paper and reality, though, are two very different things and aside from its famous train, narrow-gauge lines, and extraordinary tunnel, the railroad could proudly say that it offered the most scenic stretch of railroad in the continental United States.

After taking over the ailing Southern Pacific in the late 1980s Rio Grande Industries (parent of the Rio Grande) slowly began to integrate the smaller Denver and Rio Grande Western into the larger (a rare occurrence in any industry, a parent company being merged into its subsidiary) and by the time the Union Pacific purchased the Southern Pacific in 1996 the Denver and Rio Grande Western had, for the most part, lost its independent identity.

Notable Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Passenger Trains

California Zephyr

Colorado Eagle

Exposition Flyer: Operated between Oakland, California and Chicago in conjunction with the Burlington and Western Pacific until 1949 (replaced by the CZ).

Mountaineer: (Denver - Montrose, Colorado)

Panoramic: (Denver - Odgen)

Prospector: (Denver - Salt Lake City)

Rio Grande Zephyr: Replacement for the CZ between 1970 and 1983 it operated between Denver and Ogden.

Royal Gorge: (Denver - Pueblo - Ogden)

San Juan: (Alamosa - Durango, Colorado)

The Silverton: (Durango - Silverton, Colorado)

The Yampa Valley: (Denver - Craig, Colorado)

With the merger the Rio Grande became yet another fallen flag along with its subsidiary although its legacy continues to thrive in the way of the California Zephyr, Durango & Silverton and its magnificent Moffat Tunnel. If you ever get the chance please take a trip on today’s California Zephyr or Durango & Silverton because the sights both offer surely will not disappoint you!

For more reading about the Rio Grande you might want to consider the book Rio Grande Railroad from James Griffin. The book gives a superb general overview of the railroad and is filled with excellent photographs (many in color) of the D&RGW. If you are a fan or have any interest whatsoever in the Rio Grande you will very much enjoy this book.