Best of Summer’s End 2018, Part 3: Of Rails, Old Railcars, and One Freshly Painted Locomotive

I know, it’s October already. Time to wrap this series up.

On the plains of eastern Colorado the towns are almost precisely ten miles apart. From Colorado Springs out east-by-northeast, it’s Falcon, Peyton, Calhan, Simla, etc. to Limon and I-70. These towns came up because the old locomotives traversing the line at those altitudes needed water every ten miles, while the passengers and crew shopped or grabbed something to eat during the break. 

At the far higher elevation of the San Luis Valley, the rail line following the Rio Grande apparently only needed the service break every 15 miles, as that is the distance between (east to west-by-northwest) Alamosa, Monte Vista, Del Norte, and South Fork.

Water isn’t much of an issue with today’s modern trains. What to do with old abandoned railcars is, at least here in Monte Vista. They do make for dramatic photos when the light is slanting in just so.

Of course, when the light is not so dramatic, it looks a lot like this. I walk through this area every time I go to drop one of my family’s vehicles off at the auto shop on Broadway, and I’m always impressed by the sheer waste of space in that area just north of US 160 along the western end of Acequia Drive. 

















It’s not just the railcars that have been abandoned. It’s this entire area of town that could serve as another park, if nothing else. No one seems to know what to do with this vast slab of real estate, given over to kochia, piercevine, and litter.

D&RGW stands for “Denver & Rio Grande Western.” The company was founded in 1870 by Col. William Palmer, the same man who founded Colorado’s second largest city, Colorado Springs.

A story from this year in the San Luis Valley is that Adams State University students took over the painting of a locomotive for the San Luis/Rio Grande (SLRG) line. To what end, I do not know (is locomotive painting a major now?), but it does make a nice rolling ad for the institution.

From the same stretch of tracks which serves to pick up the potatoes and other produce in Center to our north, another train makes stops at the warehouses just before the tracks merge with the east-west D&RGW line.

The sun-bleached sign at left warns that there isn’t clearance for anyone hanging on the side of the train once it reaches the warehouses.

Crossing the tracks as they cross US 285/Broadway, looking west to Del Norte. For some reason railcars are often left sitting on the main line, as seen in the distance here.

Someone put a lot of work into this graffiti. I hope the artist went on to better things.

This way to Alamosa, 15 miles.

This way to Del Norte, 15 miles.

Franklin Street crossing.

It just goes on.

All photographs Copyright © 2018 by Lawrence Roy Aiken. All rights reserved. Like what you see? Buy me a tasty, wholesome beverage via PayPal.