Denver - Pueblo Joint Line

[daveklepper]

My reliable and well-know Colorado friend replied to my enquiry by a letter of 22 May received today and confirmed what I had posted earlier with a few minor changes. In 1960 there were two passengers trains operated on the joint line. The Colorado Eagle, which ran north to Denver in the morning and south in the evening, had usually all Missouri Pacific equipment with their usual blush grey and medium blue colors, and the MP locomotives, E7's, A and B, ran through to Denver, with of course D&RGW crews on from Pueblo. But the dedicated locomotives also had the D&RGW emblem on them, and a modeler will have to locate photographs. If I remember correctly, the added emblem was on the sides of the locomtive, next to the round red MP sunburst, and I think it was the modern "Rio Grande-Action" symbal, but my memory might not be relibable. The Eagle had dome coaches and a dome lounge, but lacked a round-end observation at the time I rode it , The rear car was the 6&10 picked up from the mixed from Wichita at Herendon, Kansas. The other train was the joint D&RGW-AT&SF train which went north in the late afternoon and evening and south in the morning. Power was usually Saten Fe F-7's, but occasionally a D&RGW PA and PB would be substituted as part of swapping the Royal Gorge's power and getting it to and from Denver. The separation of the coaches from the Prospector took place at Grand junction, not Glenwood Springs. The dome-coach-lounge-dinnette was ex-Chessie, also a regular coach and a combine, all with the silver and orange and black stripe paint scheme. Only the Burlington slumbercoach ran Denver - Colorado Springs, off the Denver Zephyr, and if I had seen a coach also, then it was a special move only. Ditto the Rock Island sleeper and coach that I remember, this was a special move, the Rocky Mountain Rocket served both Denver and Colorado Springs splitting at Limon, KS. The Santa Fe Budd coach and ACF or Pullman sleeper came off either the Chief or the SF Chief (before the latter was rerouted via Amarillo). Then there was the usual CB&Q, D&RGW, and AT&SF freight traffic, and even then there was a lot of coal. I hope this helps. "The joint line is now an extremely busy operation with many UO and BNSF coal trains moving over it." Dave