01-18-2011, 03:44 PM
MountainMan Wrote:Interesting, since the Royal Gorge Line does not have any trackage rights in that region and is not financially tied to UP. The Royal Gorge Line is limited to operations inside the gorge itself, and can go no farther than a mile or so past the Royal Gorge Bridge before reversing back to the terminal. UP would have to negotiate passage of that stretch between CAnon City and the reversing poibnt, now owned by RGR, in order to retrieve those cars, or approach from Leadville by way of Buena Vista, if that's still possible.
We're not talking about a "few lost cars" here; we are talking about a lot of abandoned cars on a mainline totally controlled by UP.
Meanwhile, I sent a letter simultaneously to the Governor, the head of UP and the major Denver news stations expressing my concern as a citizen for the abandonment of UP rolling stock and issues of environmental and visual pollution. We'll see what happens.
When I rode the Royal Gorge in Oct 2008, they had rights up as far as an industrial spur west of the Gorge, and about the area of the rafting pull-outs/launches for Sheep Horn Canyon and the Gorge respectively. The employees said they very occasionally switch a freight car on the spur. I don't remember exactly, but I'm thinking the spur served either a cement plant or a gravel pit.
Like you, I assume there is still rail access to Sheep Horn Canyon and the Royal Gorge via Leadville and Salida, as well as west from Canyon City. I know there is track still present through Buena Vista. There is also a tourist C&S that operates a few miles south out of Leadville along the Arkansas River.
Like you, I wouldn't mind seeing the "abandoned" rolling stock removed. It's not particularly pretty from Rt 50 or the river.
Fred W