Railroad photograph
Photo by: Kevin Morgan
Everything about this shot screams Rio Grande! The most common ballast found along Rio Grande tracks was a black volcanic scoria, which the railroad received from a mine near Crater on the Craig Branch. The sign with the "35" on it indicates that the maximum speed for all trains is 35 miles per hour at that location. While Southern Pacific started a program to add welded rail to Tennessee Pass, the line was closed before the project could be completed. As you can see here, the main line is cleared jointed rail.
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User Comments (1)

Posted By Gerry On Saturday, August 19, 2017 At 2:24:34 AM (PT)

When driving from Leadville, CO to Buena Visa I noticed that in some places the line was double track. Also, the second track appeared to be welded rail and not jointed rail. Can you clarify what I saw from our moving car?  

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Saturday, July 11, 2015 at 17:22:55
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Location Information

City or County and State
Lake County, CO

Subdivision
Tennessee Pass (UP)

Milepost or Control Point
East of Kobe




Train Information
Railroad
Union Pacific, Rio Grande
Model
None
Primary Unit Number
None

Paint Scheme
Symbol
Train Type
0-None



Photo Information
Camera Make/Model
Canon / Canon EOS 7D
ISO
400
Flash
Did Not Fire

Focal Length
106 mm
Shutter
1/320 seconds
Aperture
f/11