Trailing the characteristic Alco smudge, PA-1 6001 and an EMD F7B unit accelerate out of Granby with Rio Grande train 9, the Yampa Valley, on its daily 231-mile trek from Denver to Craig. The baggage-express car is loaded with skis and the four coaches filled with skiers headed to the slopes at Steamboat Springs on the remote Craig Branch. We are at almost 8,000 feet here, some 2,700 feet higher and several tens of degrees colder than Denver. Nearby Tabernash, where the Rio Grande until recently maintained a helper terminal, is consistently in the news as the coldest spot in the lower 48 states.
