Rio Grande Southern Railroad
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS) was a narrow gauge railroad which ran from Durango to Ridgway in the western part of the US state of Colorado.
History
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) had built branch lines to the mining towns of Silverton and Ouray, but the San Juan Mountains between Ouray and Silverton were too formidable to allow the building of a railroad directly connecting the two towns. The Silverton Railroad, built north from Silverton, had reached within 8 miles (13 km) of Ouray, but the remaining stretch through the Uncompahgre Gorge was considered too difficult. A cog railway was briefly considered but was never built.
The RGS was founded in 1889 by Otto Mears, and construction began in 1890 from Ridgway (north of Ouray) and Durango (south of Silverton) to go around the most rugged part of the San Juan Mountains and also reach the mining towns of Rico and Telluride.
The Rio Grande Southern was never a wealthy railroad. Its locomotives were all second or more hand, mostly from the Denver and Rio Grande/Denver and Rio Grande Western, which owned the RGS for most of its history. Most of the locomotives that came to the road were old and worn out, some even being pulled off the scrap line and pressed into RGS service. The road only had one car built new for itself. In later years, most of its freight cars were retired cars from the abandoned Colorado and Southern narrow gauge system.
Spiral
The route passed over Dallas Divide west of Ridgway and over Lizard Head Pass north of Rico. The most famous structure on the route was the Ophir Loop near Ophir. At this point the railroad was built up a narrow mountain valley and looped back up the other side to gain elevation over several tall trestles.
The RGS filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission for abandonment on 24 April 1952.
Galloping Goose
The most famous aspect of the RGS was its fleet of Galloping Geese. During the Great Depression it became increasingly expensive to operate trains over the mountain railroad. The RGS came up with a concept to build a rail car out of a car or bus body front end and a box car rear end. Seven Geese were built for the RGS, all but one of which survive to this day. The front of no. 1 is on the front of number 6. A Goose was built by RGS for the San Cristobal Railroad in 1933. It was returned to the RGS in 1939 and dismantled, with parts going to rebuild Goose #2.
| Goose | Built | Type | Current Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 1931 | Buick | Replica at the Ridgway Railway Museum |
| #2 | 1931 | Buick | Colorado Railroad Museum |
| #3 | 1932 | Pierce-Arrow | Knotts Berry Farm |
| #4 | 1932 | Pierce-Arrow | On Display off Main Street in Telluride, Colorado |
| #5 | 1933 | Pierce-Arrow | Dolores, Colorado |
| #6 | 1934 | Pierce-Arrow | Colorado Railroad Museum |
| #7 | 1936 | Buick | Colorado Railroad Museum |
