Photo ID: 105327 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 276 Leadville, CO 2888 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific This is, without question, my favorite picture of my day long journey exploring Tennessee Pass! With afternoon thunderstorms gone, sunlight shines through the valley. A few straggling clouds hang out over the mountains in the distance. The (tallest) mountain peak in the picture is 14,440 foot Mount Elbert, the highest mountain peak in Colorado. All that the scene needs is a westbound climbing through the gentle curves of the track through the meadow. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105326 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Leadville Leadville, CO 2409 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots CSRR The Colorado and Southern once had a narrow gauge line that ran from Denver to Leadville. The line was too steep and narrow to be converted to standard gauge and it was ultimately abandoned. However, roughly a ten mile stretch of the line was converted to standard gauge between Leadville and the Molybdenum mine at Climax. The C&S handled all the mine traffic and then interchanged with the Rio Grande. This was one of the last holdouts for steam on the C&S as the engine used for switching was the steam engine seen here, used well into the 1950s. As you can see, the engine was preserved and donated to the town of Leadville. It is no longer operable, but sits outside of the Leadville depot. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105325 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Malta Leadville, CO 2210 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific The area around Malta (and Leadville) is arguable one of the most beautiful locations along Tennessee Pass. The tracks follow Sawatch mountain range which includes several of the tallest mountains in Colorado including Mount Elbert (14,440ft / 4,401m) and Mount Massive (14,428ft / 4,398m). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105324 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Malta Leadville, CO 2180 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande The shell is about all that remains of this dwarf signal at the east end of Malta. You can see that the cabinet door (on the far side of the signal) has been opened and parts removed. The light itself has been removed as well, and only the housing remains. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105323 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Malta Leadville, CO 2574 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific A look at the east switch of Malta. The siding is on the far left side of the photo. A stub track, used for loading gondolas, breaks off from the mainline on this side of the grade crossing. Note the derail for the stub track...currently aligned for the main. Unfortunately, there are no cars to keep from rolling off the stub track, so the position of the derail is irrelevant. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105322 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Malta Leadville, CO 2271 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Many people do not realize that Tennessee Pass never actually enters Leadville proper. The mainline is actually several miles west of downtown and there is no siding called Leadville on the line. There is, however, a small yard at Malta, in which cars could get set out and switched. The Colorado and Southern actually owned a branch line connecting Leadville and the mine at Climax. Until the mine shut down in 1995, the C&S would handle switching at the mine and bring cars to and from Leadville. Rio Grande would interchange with the C&S at Leadville via a connecting track from Malta. The connecting tracks has since been removed. In this picture, the yard at Malta lies empty...one of the tracks covered by small rocks slides over the years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105321 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Malta Leadville, CO 2554 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande A pair of (very old) D&RGW hoppers were, at some point, setup as a loading platform at Malta. The hoppers were laying on the ground and were filled with dirt. To the left of the hoppers is a man-made ramp, constructed out of dirt and rocks. It appears as though trucks and tractors could drive up on the platform and dump their load into gondolas parked on the track. This operation continued for a short time after Tennessee Pass was officially closed. UP's Malta Local ran from Pueblo to Malta until March of 1999. The last local, picking up the final few cars, departed for Pueblo on March 9, 1999. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103993 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 270.7 (East Malta) Leadville, CO 2851 (2 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande Look east out the east end of Malta, the name has all but been worn off of the signal control box. Unlike several other locations, the signal at east Malta is still standing, apparently intact. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103992 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 270.7 (East Malta) Leadville, CO 2512 (2 Comments Posted) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande Even at 10,000 feet, the weeds are making descent progress at burying the siding near the east end of the siding of Malta. This is the siding closest to Leadville and the location where the lead to the yard at Leadville left the mainline. The lead and the yard in Leadville were remove many, many years ago. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103991 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 281.2 (West Tennessee Pass) Leadville, CO 2629 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande A look west out of the west end of Tennessee Pass toward the east portal of the tunnel. I found it interesting how many joints there seemed to be on the siding. There may be a little bit of a telephoto compression effect here, but not much. The joints seem to come every 15 or 20 feet long the entire siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103990 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 281.2 (West Tennessee Pass) Leadville, CO 2036 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande Looking west at the west end of Tennessee Pass, there is no longer a signal to tell trains what the condition is departing the block...then again, there aren't any trains either, so I guess the lack of a signal is irrelevant. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103989 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 281.2 (West Tennessee Pass) Leadville, CO 2491 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande The stamp on this rail indicates that it was made in 1980 at the Colorado Fuel and Iron plant near Pueblo. Other than the significant amount of rust that has accumulated on the rails, the track appears to be in pretty good condition. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103988 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 281.2 (West Tennessee Pass) Leadville, CO 2188 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande One of the biggest problems caused by the inactivity on Tennessee Pass (as you expect) appears to be rust. Much of the paint on this switch machine is gone, leaving behind a lot of rust. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103987 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 281.2 (West Tennessee Pass) Leadville, CO 1911 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande An up close look at the "General Railway Signal Co" stamped on to the switch machine located at west Tennessee Pass. Unfortunately, this particular switch machine hasn't had power running to it 15 years! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 103986 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, September 24, 2011 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 281.2 (West Tennessee Pass) Leadville, CO 1900 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande Powered switches in CTC territory can be placed into "hand throw" if necessary so the switch can be thrown by hand. This may happen due to a power outage (although rare) or, more likely, because a maintainer is working on the switch and needs to throw it without the dispatcher. This is a closeup view of the hand throw lever on the switch machine. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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