The Royal Gorge Route Railroad, Keeping Alive The Memory Of The Rio Grande's Royal Gorge Route

Like the rest of Colorado’s famous tourist lines, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad offers some of the most spectacular views of the state, in this case the famous Royal Gorge area in which runs the Arkansas River. This Rio Grande line was built in the late 19th century primarily to tap the lucrative silver mines in the region. However, the railroad fought bitterly for years with the Santa Fe to obtain exclusive rights to reach the Leadville area, where the mines were centrally located. The below account of the race to build through the Royal Gorge comes courtesy of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad:

In the late 1870s miners descended on the upper Arkansas valley of Colorado in search of carbonate ores rich in lead and silver. The feverish mining activity in what would become the Leadville district attracted the attention of the Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe railroads, each already having tracks in the Arkansas valley. The Santa Fe was at Pueblo, and the D&RG near Canon City some 35 miles west. Leadville was over 100 miles away. For two railroads to occupy a river valley ordinarily was not a problem, but west of Canon City was an incredible obstacle - an obstacle that would result in a war between the railroads in the race to the new bonanza.

West of Canon City the Arkansas River cuts through a high plateau of igneous rocks forming a spectacular steep-walled gorge over a thousand feet deep. At its narrowest point shear walls on both sides plunge into the river creating an impassible barrier. On April 19, 1878, a hastily assembled construction crew from the Santa Fe began grading for a railroad just west of Canon City in the mouth of the gorge. The D&RG whose end of track was only ¾ of a mile from Canon City raced crews to the same area, but were blocked by the Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon. By a few hours they had lost the first round in what became a two-year struggle between the two railroads that would be known as the Royal Gorge War.

The D&RG crews tried leapfrogging the Santa Fe grading crews, but were met with court injunctions from the Santa Fe in the contest for the right-of-way. The D&RG built several stone "forts" (such as Fort DeRemer at Texas Creek) upstream in an attempt to block the Santa Fe. Rocks rolled down on them, tools thrown in the river and other acts of sabotage, harassed grading crews. Both sides hired armed guards for their crews. Rifles and pistols accompanied picks and shovels as tools. The railroads went to court with each trying to establish their primacy to the right of way. After a long legal battle that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, on April 21, 1879, the D&RG was granted the primary right to build through the gorge that in places was wide enough at best for only one railroad.

Of course, this is not the end of the story. The two railroads continued to fight for years following the court order although in the end the Rio Grande eventually won exclusive rights to operate through the gorge. Today, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad offers guests a variety of adventures from cab rides and group charters to wine dinner trains and murder mystery specials. On top of all of this the train is bedecked in classic Rio Grande orange, silver, and black. One thing is for sure, a trip aboard the Royal Gorge Route Railroad is something to remember!

For more information on tourist trains like the Royal Gorge Route Railroad you might want to consider the book Empire State Railway Museum's Tourist Trains 2006 from the Empire State Railway Museum. Given excellent reviews this guidebook covers nearly all of the tourist railroads and museums operating in the country in fine detail. So, if you’re interested in locating a tourist train or railroad near you, or simply want to know more about a particular one, you will certainly not be disappointed in Empire State Railway Museum’s guidebook to tourist railroads and museums. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit The Railroad Diamond by clicking the tab in the menu to your left marked "TRD Store".