Tennessee Pass 1984
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- More oldies from the archives, this time a visit to Tennessee Pass in 1984 when huge power consists, graffiti free rolling stock and cabooses were still the rule. Thanks to friend Bill Farmer for the video.
An SD40T-2 leading five GP30s. If you're a model railroader, I'm telling you, there's a prototype for everything on the railroad. They've done it all.
Four engines up front and six midtrain helper units - this was definitely the Rio Grande at its finest! It's too bad something like this sadly cannot be repeated in this day and age.
. . . and a caboose!!
These are some great mountain railroading views with beautiful scenery and lots of cabooses. Thank you for posting this!t
Very nice, thanks for all the shots of cabooses. Lots of videos don’t have that.
There's a reason for that. Cabooses were on their way out in the mid 1980's and were gone from most main lines (except Virginia and Minnesota which had full crew laws) by around 1985. They disappeared about 5 years later in Canada as the labor agreements were modified. Real, portable video devices (camcorders) only came out in 1983-84 and didn't become popular and cheap until a few years later, by which time most trains were running without cabooses. The scenes in this video were taken with one of the cumbersome camera/VHS tape deck rigs.
Great video of a very scenic line. So glad I got to spend some time in Salida scouting track and imagining what it would have looked like when running. These videos make the past come back to life.
What! No graffiti, and a caboose. I remember , my brother was a brakeman on the "Grande", I got train rides. Cool times!
To paraphrase a line from the movie Patton; God how I hate the 21st century!
And stick rail clickety-clack!! Music to my ears! That's very weird seeing graffiti free rolling stock. Welcome, just not used to seeing it.
Through the Rockies, not around them!!
Great vido I miss DRGW it seems like they shot this yesterday!!
Magic Tennessee route! Excellent video, well done!
Superb stuff indeed, I loved how the engines on the Tennessee Pass got so fantastically dirty.
The SPee was well known for its dirty motive power. I can recall many a unit dirty at a time in my life as a teenager bein a young railfan watchin the SP approach from the south into Mesa Az in the early to mid 70's! Loved the oscillating headlites on their road units.
What an awesome video. No sound I like more than Rio Grande EMD's slugging it out on the mountain grades. I wish this line was still active.
Thank for the fun memories....It’s fun trying to figure where he’s at
Nice1 We still had cabooses in 1984!
Awesome, really enjoy these old gems.
Oh wow the clickty clack of jointed rail on the Rio Grande's Tennessee Pass-did not know that. It's a shame UP closed the line a few yrs back.
I bet UP could run this line easier today with the more powerful locomotives now available. It would be an awesome sight to see.
Fewer locos needed, but you still need to drag all that tonnage over a 10,000 foot summit instead of slightly more than half that for Sherman hill. Double the fuel bill no matter what power you use. DP definitely would reduce crew costs over the manned helpers in use then, but the fuel cost is still a killer.
Beautiful.
Just drove along most of the route and just cant believe the grande is gone. Wish I spent more time here
A lot of footage at the beginning looks to be along the Colorado River around east of Dotsero, Gypsum, Eagle area. You can see the Colorado R and hear highway noise Love the pre- deregulation era caboose, small logos dirty engines and no graffiti.
Thank you Loved this video!
Looks like they didn’t underpower their trains. Nothing is creeping along slow.
It looks like the Rio Grande's coalies were coming down the eastern slope of Tennessee Pass which was rather easy when it came to mountain grades, but it was an entirely different story on the western slope with that 3 percent and that 10,000 feet in elevation.
Loved the loaded coal train at the 12 minute mark.
Excellent video.
iusetano yep
One of the many negative things to come out of the UP/SP merger.....they canned this line. At some point, the Moffat route WILL reach max capacity and they’ll need a relief valve for the excess traffic.
Dream on. The Moffat route continues to be well underutilized. Once coal traffic is completely gone, there's little reason to keep it, let alone re open Tennessee Pass. The energy cost to haul tonnage over the Rockies versus UP's much lower routes will become prohibitive no matter what eventually replaces diesels for motive power. And then there's the threat of self driving trucks. Get ready to see many more railfan favorite routes become rust streaks.
@@fmnut Yup...very little traffic runs over the Moffat. Guy across the street from my girlfriend's house works for the BNSF and he said they run one daily manifest each way over the line. Not sure about the UP however, if they run more than 10 trains a day, I'd be surprised. Oh, and then there's Amtrak's Cal Z each way. That's it.
Recently, there was an STB denial for a short-line operator to re-open Tennessee due to a lack of environmental impact reports. I'd be very surprised if any deal is ever reached between the UP and a third-party rail operator - the trackage over the pass is in sorry shape. We're talking millions of dollars to get the line back in-service.
The Moffat primarily makes money from the fiber optic line that uses the right of way and the tunnel.
sd 45 wit tha big grade...awesome
I wonder what the tare weight difference is between 100 triple-bottom steel coal gons and 100 aluminum Bethgons. I've also wondered how the seven or eight diesel powered train business model can hold up-it can't be very profitable. Great video!
Aluminum cars weigh 48 to 52,000 lbs empty versus 55 to 65,000 lbs empty for steel cars. On average you can get 10 tons more coal in an aluminum car versus steel.
Is this a secondary line? You can hear clickety-clack like it was jointed rail
Curt Wakeman No, it was considered a main line. There was still a lot of bolted rail on main lines back in the 1980s.
When EMD ruled the rails
Anyone know what the speed limit was? Some of those trains are hauling tail.
Freight train speeds were as high as 60 MPH on some of the straighter stretches, 45 MPH in others, and 20 MPH in the twisty bits and steep grades
@@fmnut Dayum. Some of the straighter sections being like the area near Johnson's village or the stretch south of Leadville?
@@tcp3059 yes.
YES!
That's real raliroading
I really don't think they needed to put in the new signals the searchlights did a good job I remember relative lived by the spur about 30__50 cars would go by that line is still there lumber mills gone no business
SADLY. TENNESSEE PASS IS NOW 100% COMPLETELY ABANDONED. TRAINS WILL NEVER RUN EVER AGAIN.
@DAMIAN WAGNER No There are many washouts, trees, rocks on the track especially on the north side
Not abandoned, rail banked (mothballed).