Photo ID: 105310 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Buena Vista Buena Vista, CO 2049 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific I love how the tracks in Buena Vista cut right through downtown. Must have been quite a site (and quite a sound) when a train with five SD40T-2s came through. Today, the tracks serve as little more than an artificial barrier between parking lots. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105309 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Buena Vista Buena Vista, CO 2219 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Main Street Buena Vista (literally)! With 2,600 residents, the town of Buena Vista is roughly half the size of its neighbor Salida. Interestingly, there is no siding in Buena Vista. The main line just comes through town. 100 years ago, Buena Vista was the city in which Rio Grande's Tennessee Pass was joined by the mainline for the Colorado Midland. The two railroads paralleled each other between Buena Vista and Crystal Lake. Here, an afternoon storm pushes its way east out of town. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105308 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Salida Salida, CO 2117 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Even though Tennessee Pass is considered "idle" and not "abandoned", the city of Salida when ahead and paved over the siding near the west end! The railhead for the mainline is still visible, although it would be difficult to get across. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105307 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Salida Salida, CO 2103 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific, Rio Grande As a general policy, I do not edit the content of the pictures I shoot. However, I didn't want the obscenity painted on the side of the hut to appear on my site. Based on the first letter and the blurred portion of the image, you can infer was is written. I included the shot because I like the classic Rio Grande milepost marker. Milepost 215...downtown Salida! We are a little over 7,000 feet above sea level. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105306 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Salida Salida, CO 2161 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific A jungle of weeds grows up and out of the Tennessee Pass right of way in the town of Salida. While there are those that believe Tennessee Pass will one day make a comeback, I personally am not in that camp. While I'd be the first to cheer if I was proven wrong, I doubt a train will ever traverse these rails again. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105305 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Salida Salida, CO 2129 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific Another sad sight during the day long tour of Tennessee Pass. The yard at Salida was once a key component in the Rio Grande system. For years, the yard had dual gauge rails (both standard and narrow gauge) and interchanged traffic from several sources. The narrow gauge line over Marshall Pass (original mainline for the Rio Grande prior to the completion of Tennessee Pass), traffic from the Monarch Branch, and standard gauge traffic along Tennessee Pass all came through here. Today, 18 years after the last of the trains came through, the yard consists of a single track alongside the 7,240 foot siding and the mainline. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105304 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Salida Salida, CO 2119 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific The eastbound signal at the east end of Salida stands tall still among piles of bushes slowly growing over the right of way. An industry that was most likely once served by the railroad now sits quietly in the distance. The town of Salida once found life in the railroad and in mining. Now, it is primarily a tourist town. With skiing at the Monarch Ski Resort in the winter and rafting in the Arkansas River in the summer, there is plenty to do. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105303 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Salida Salida, CO 2269 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific At the east switch of Salida, we find an industry that looks like it has been idle for as long as the tracks that run alongside it! There are signs around the perimeter of the old structure warning people to stay out as the ground are not safe. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105302 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 203.5 Howard, CO 2006 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Tennessee Pass (UP) Union Pacific As we look west from the grade crossing in Howard, CO, I cannot help but wonder how many residents of the small town remember a time when trains came rolling through town. That time is now nearly 18 years gone. Despite the passing years of inactivity, buses must still stop at the grade crossing as the line is not abandoned. 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 1910 (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. Photo ID: 105300 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 201.4 Fremont County, CO 2268 (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: 105299 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 201 Fremont County, CO 1990 (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: 105298 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Vallie Vallie, CO 2109 (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: 105297 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Vallie Vallie, CO 2169 (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: 105296 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 11, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Vallie Vallie, CO 2228 (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.

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