Rio Grande 484
by Dale R Carlson
Title
Rio Grande 484
Artist
Dale R Carlson
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Rio Grande 484, a Mikado 2-8-2 narrow gauge steam locomotive, originally built for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1925. It now pulls excursion trains on the Cumbres and Toltec scenic railroad out of Chama, New Mexico. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad was originally constructed in 1880 as part of the Rio Grande’s narrow gauge San Juan Extension, which served the silver mining district of the San Juan mountains in southwestern Colorado. With the repeal of the Sherman Act in 1893 and its devastating effect on the silver mining industry, traffic over the San Juan Extension failed to warrant conversion to standard gauge. In the decades that followed, the railroad was mostly stagnant, although its last major upgrades in equipment and infrastructure happened in the 1920s. A post-World War II natural gas boom brought a brief period of prosperity to the line, but operations dwindled to a trickle in the 1960s. Finally, in 1969 the Interstate Commerce Commission granted the Rio Grande’s request to abandon its remaining narrow gauge main line trackage, thereby ending the last use of steam locomotives in general freight service in the United States. Most of the abandoned track was dismantled soon after the ICC’s decision, but through the combined efforts of an energetic and resourceful group of railway preservationists and local civic interests, the most scenic portion of the line was saved. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico jointly purchased the track and line-side structures from Antonito to Chama.
Uploaded
August 25th, 2019
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