Rio Grande Narrow Gauge in the 1950s

Mountains and narrow gauge railroads are two things that worked well together years ago. One of the more notable of those narrow gauge railroads belonged to the Rio Grande. In this video, C. Vision presents the Rio Grande Narrow Gauge in the 1950’s from the films of George Niles.

On his journeys to Colorado, George captured a variety of standard gauge action, including the Santa Fe, Colorado & Southern and standard gauge Rio Grande scenes.

In Durango, our narrow gauge journey begins.

Here we see the spectacular trains and scenery of the line from Durango to Silverton from both trackside and on board. Next, we view a pair of “Cumbres Turns” with K-36 #483 and K-37 #490 in charge. These trains ran to and from Chama, New Mexico and Cumbres, Colorado. Then it’s off to Salida, Colorado for our last segment.

This is where we begin to see some great scenes of the Monarch Turn from Salida to the CF&I Limestone Quarry. Locations on this line include Maysville and the Garfield Switch Back. This video includes a big portion of the Rio Grande narrow gauge fleet.

2-8-2’s in the K-27, K-28, K-36 and K-37 class are shown along with US Army diesel 4700N, that was tested by the Rio Grande in 1954. Combine awesome Rocky Mountain scenery with classic narrow gauge railroading…and you have an incredible combination of railroading so unique…you have to see it to believe it! Don’t miss The Rio Grande Narrow Gauge in the 1950’s.