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One of my purchases while visiting the interesting museum in Ash Fork this summer was a 1994 calender sponsored by Orchard Supply Hardware containing illustrations by Howard Fogg and a short article on Railroad Slang by the much lamented Richard Steinheimer. It was the illustration for November, Action at Tennessee Pass, which particularly drew me to it. I first encountered this route in 2001 on our first visit to the US, spent entirely in Colorado. We travelled by car from Denver through Colorado Springs, a detour to Pueblo, Florence, then very run-down, Canon City, Salida, Buena Vista and Leadville without me realising the significance of the route. I was aware of the railway line as we drove south from Denver but there was no activity. In Salida the site of the station could still be made out and there was an interesting booklet describing the town's relationship with the railways. The tracks still ran through Buena Vista but I was told they were simply kept in reserve by Union Pacific, as an alternative route. The lady in the museum was a mine of information on the various railroads that served the area. Travelling from Leadville towards Minturn there was again track-bed, I suppose in the Pando area, and a realisation, considering the height we were at, and the terrain, of what an impressive line this must have been. Even with the internet it has been very difficult to find descriptions of what the operating conditions and procedures were like on this route. I know there are videos but UK and US systems are incompatible. Fogg's painting, set in winter 1938 and signed '93, is no doubt romanticised, but depicts a scene common into the 1960s of stations where bankers/helpers were based, as at Beattock and Tebay on the West Coast line in Britain. Does anyone have direct experience of the Tennessee Pass station? Also at Ash Fork it was mentioned that the original line through the township had been moved some ten miles to the north. Was this the reason for the Harvey establishment closing in 1948? I note that today there are parallel tracks several miles apart in the Seligman/Flagstaff area. What is the reason for this? During our visit the line through Ash Fork seemed to be well used.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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The Fred Harvey hotel(s) between Albuquerque and Needles, CA were gradually closed as Route 66 became the choice for travelors in automobiles.
The current double track main line that once went through Ash Fork was relocated in 1960 to create a much improved operating efficiency. The tracks which you describe as 'several miles apart' are the remaining line from Ash Fork to Williams which was left in place for the Phoenix connection to the relocated double track main line describded above.
Posts: 467 | From: Prescott, AZ USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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I was surprised you found an Orchard Supply Hardware railroad calendar at the museum. OCH stores are only in California. Thet put out a great (and free) railroad calendar every year in early January.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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You are right. I have just checked on the calendar, and all the outlets are in Calfornia. But it wasn't the only calendar they had in the museum. As I inferred, the ladies staffing the museum were very informed about the railroad and its history in the area. They were quite nostalgic about Escalante, as was the lady in Barstow,Casa del Desierto, whose mother had been a Harvey Girl. We were able to have a good look at that Harvey House because we were running over four hours late. It was well worth it!
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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On a similar excursion several years ago we stopped at the impressive memorial for the 10 Mountain Division on Tennessee Pass. There is a somewhat somber video of the memorial for the 1000 men killed in WWII from this division, mostly in northern Italy. This more informative web site gives some of the details. One of the commemorative plaques talked about loading troops for deployment from nearby Camp Hale. A documentary was also made about their famous assault on Riva Ridge.
Guess that's about as off topic as you can get, but our country's history is certainly closely linked with the railroads. I'm glad the UP has rail banked the railroad but it is difficult to see why it would be reopened as the maintenance is difficult with the high altitude and steep grades not to mention its circuitous route.
The extreme eastern end is still in operation as the Royal Gorge Route. This was the original Rio Grande RR (D&RGW) route to the west from Denver before the Moffet tunnel was opened in 1928. As late as the mid 1990's the SP still had a hotshot train on this line of automobiles from Ford in KC to the Bay area. This ended when the UP bought the Southern Pacific after the SP had acquired control of the Rio Grande.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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My wife and I stopped at that memorial in 2001. It must have been a very bleak area in which to do military training. One is reminded of the soldiers in the Roman Army who served their time on Hadrian's Wall. Britain's worst railway disaster was also connected with the army, the Quintinshill accident of May 1915, when a troop train en-route for Liverpool collided head on woth a local train due to forces of circumstance and an unofficial arrangement between signalmen. Becaause of rolling-stock shortages during the war the troop train consisted of wooden non-corridor stock lit by gas from cylinders. Gas from the lighting system and coals from the tender contributed to the inferno in which 227 people, mainly soldiers, died.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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