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Denver & Rio Grande
Western Railroad was built through the Rocky Mountains, not around
them. A tenacious rebel, Rio Grande survived for more than a century
as an independent railroad in a land of giants. At the end of the
20th century, the enduring memory of Rio Grande is one of black
and gold diesels thundering through smoky tunnels on a right-of-way
blasted out of solid rock by construction engineers who didn’t
know the meaning of the word impossible.
With 223 full-color photographs
and nine lavishly illustrated maps, this volume presents a robust
visual document of a railroad where words of description always
fall short. In the pages of "Scenic Line of the World"
may be found all of the elements that made Rio Grande the scenic
wonder it was. The evergreen mountains of La Veta Pass, the bare
rock of the Royal Gorge, the golden aspen on Tennessee Pass, the
multi-colored sandstone of Ruby and Bootlegger Canyons, the moonscape
of the Utah desert, the majestic Wasatch Range, and the sheer ruggedness
of the entire Moffat Road- all are here in one amazing volume. Through
acquisitions and mergers, Rio Grande slowly lost its personality
to that of Southern Pacific, and later, Union Pacific. The images
in this book help preserve the memory of the last years of the Rio
Grande and perhaps provide some justification for the railroad’s
bold claim of being the "Scenic Line of the World".
Contents:
- Foreword
- Palmer Divide
- La Veta Pass
- Royal Gorge Route
- Mesa Country
- Desert Crossing
- Soldier Summit
- Moffat Road
- Acknowledgements
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