Photo ID: 105287 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Texas Creek Texas Creek, CO 2057 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific It has been nearly 18 years since the last through train ran over these rails. While Tennessee Pass hasn't been officially abandoned, it might as well be! Weeds have grown up through the ballast and are taking over the rails, still lying silent in the Arkansas River Valley. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105288 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cotopaxi Cotopaxi, CO 2211 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific In the town of Cotopaxi, you will find this rather ironic sign at the grade crossing. No train has passed over these rails in over ten years, but because the line isn't officially abandoned, buses must still observe the standard safety rules at the crossing. The town of Cotopaxi was established by Jewish-Russian immigrants that sought to be farmers. With only four months of the year suitable for farming, most went on to work on construction of the rail line that now lays dormant. As of the 2010 census, there were 47 people living in Cotopaxi, named after the largest volcano in Ecuador. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105289 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cotopaxi Cotopaxi, CO 2139 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Here is a depressing sight for railfan eyes! Evidence of the mainline and the siding at Cotopaxi is almost non-existent, covered by years of weed growth. "The siding?", you may ask. While the mainline isn't too hard to spot toward the right side of the picture, you may not have noticed the rail head for the siding, just barely visible on the far left side of the image. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105290 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Cotopaxi Cotopaxi, CO 2104 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific A switch stand! But to what? If you look closely, you will see switch points through the weeds. This is the west entrance to the house track at Cotopaxi. The bush in the middle of the siding is at least five feet tall at the top! Ironically, if you look closely at the switch stand, you'll notice that it remains locked with a standard switch padlock. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105291 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Cotopaxi Cotopaxi, CO 2113 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Looking west along the tracks from the grade crossing at Cotopaxi, the main track is more or less visible. The siding, on the other hand, is completely buried in weeds and bushes! In this picture, the siding is on the right side. Getting it cleared would be quite a chore! Note the signal in the distance, standing dark and unpowered. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105292 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Vallie Vallie, CO 2018 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific We are at milepost 198 on Tennessee Pass, at the siding of Vallie. While the main track is relatively unobstructed in the foreground, it enters in to a forest of bushes in the distance. The siding has already succumbed to the foliage, completely obstructed from view off to the left on the image. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105293 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Vallie Vallie, CO 2167 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific I can only imagine what it must have been like to shoot trains on Tennessee Pass. The line traverses such a beautiful part of Colorado. Here, the tracks at Vallie are parallel to the Arkansas River and the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The mountain peak in the distance is named (rather unfortunately) "Nipple Mountain". Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105294 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Vallie Vallie, CO 2208 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande This sign was a "blast from the past" for me. These D&RGW "No Trespassing" signs used to be a dime a dozen along the right of way. They have long since been replaced along active portions of the former Rio Grande (such as the Joint Line and the Moffat). But along Tennessee Pass, you can still find them! Time has taken its toll on this sign, as the paint has badly faded over the years. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105295 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Vallie Vallie, CO 1976 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific The tracks curve around toward the west switch of Vallie (that spelling is correct) on Tennessee Pass. We are around 6,500 feet above sea level for this shot. The signal, still in descent shape (on the exterior), stands dark at the west end of the siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105296 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Vallie Vallie, CO 2258 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific It has been so long since trains have run over this portion of Tennessee Pass, that the county has simply added packed dirt right over the tracks at Vallie in order to make the ride smoother for the cars traveling this road. This track is indeed the main track, not the siding (although the siding is buried as well). Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105297 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Vallie Vallie, CO 2200 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Perhaps the most depressing picture I'd taken so far on this date during my trip over Tennessee Pass. The bushes west of Vallie have covered the tracks so well, you'd barely know that there was ever a railroad here, let alone that tracks still exist somewhere in all the green. This is about 15 miles east of Salida, along the Arkansas River. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105298 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Vallie Vallie, CO 2135 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific The west switch of Vallie has been overrun by foliage. Both heads of the eastbound signal are still attached, although the hood is missing from the lower signal. It is possible it never had a hood. Note that the signal control box no longer says "Vallie" on it. Either UP or collectors must have come through and removed the name plates at some point. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105299 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 201 Fremont County, CO 2008 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific A few miles west of Vallie, the tracks of Tennessee Pass run parallel to the Arkansas River. While mother nature has done her best to reclaim must of the line, there are still places such as this in which the right of way lies virtually untouched by encroaching foliage. The rails are rusty and the ties are old, but all things considered, the tracks don't look horrible. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105300 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 201.4 Fremont County, CO 2285 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande A set of intermediate signals sit quietly along Tennessee Pass. No power has been provided to these signals in nearly 18 years! The lower head on the signal to the right could only show a single color: lunar. When a westbound came past the signal (headed uphill), the upper head would turn red and the lower head (lunar) would illuminate. This would allow any following westbound to proceed past the red signal without stopping. At all other times, the lower head would remain dark. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105301 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 203.4 Howard, CO 1925 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific The hotbox detector at milepost 203.4 still stands faithfully beside the tracks. The Tennessee Pass mainline disappears into a see of weeds and plants as it moves east toward the detector, away from the photographer. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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