Tennessee Pass, Part 4, 844 over the Pass

During June of 1997 the Union Pacific in cooperation with the National Railway Historical Society operated an excursion using the 844 over Tennessee Pass. The trip started from Denver’s historic station which once hosted the passenger trains of 6 railroads and is now the home of only two visits a day from Amtrak. This line, topping out at 10,212 feet, was one of the highest standard gauge lines in North America. The line was constructed by the Denver & Rio Grande starting from Pueblo, reaching Canon City in 1874. The line was extended through the Royal Gorge to Salida and Leadville in 1880 as a 3 foot gauge route to serve the many mines in the area. The D&RG standard gauged the track in 1912 and ultimately Tennessee Pass became the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s primary transcontinental route until completion of the Moffat tunnel and Dotsero cut off. One of the things that made this trip special was it was well known the line’s days were numbered. The line was closed in early August 1997 with final operations completed in December and, other than the Pueblo – Parkdale section, has remained out of service.