A eastbound Climbs Tennessee pass at east belden

Severed—forever?
In early March 2014, a 30-foot boulder came crashing down the mountainside above Minturn, slamming onto the Tennessee Pass main line below while breaking in two and dest... (more)

Nightfall over Minturn
Darkness is settling over the town of Minturn, that sits at the foot of Tennessee Pass on Rio Grande’s Royal Gorge Route main line. Three EMD SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors... (more)

Looking toward the east switch of Minturn siding shows an impediment to any possible train movements over Union Pacific’s railbanked Tennessee Pass route on June 4, 2018. In early March 2014, a 30... (more)

Today, Colorado’s Minturn yard sits empty, rusty and forlorn. No longer do crews cut in helpers for the arduous climb up the steep 3 percent grades of Tennessee Pass. The sand tower is now gone an... (more)

No trains have passed this way recently!
In early March 2014, a 30-foot boulder came crashing down the mountainside above Minturn, Colorado, just west of milepost 301 on this famous Rio... (more)

Nothing has run on Tennessee Pass lately
Proof can be found looking down the main line just west of milepost 301 on this famous Rio Grande route that Union Pacific stopped operating in ... (more)

Minturn yard—1985
Rio Grande’s Minturn yard at the western base of a three percent climb over Tennessee Pass was an important location on the railroad’s map. It was a crew change point ... (more)

Minturn yard—1995
Colorado’s Minturn Yard is flush with new Southern Pacific GE AC4400CWs on September 5, 1995. To the right, SP No. 280 leads three others on the point of an eastbound ... (more)

Minturn yard—2009
Overgrown by grass and weeds, Minturn yard looks like this in the Union Pacific era—no trains, and only rusty rails sadly leading to nowhere—on June 15, 2009.

Weeks before the shutdown, two grungy C44AC helpers bring MHNRO off Tennessee Pass and into Minturn, CO.

Rarin' to go: A six pack of Minturn helpers are cut-in to an eastbound manifest and ready to shove up the Eagle River canyon and into the high country across Tennessee Pass. What a piece of railro... (more)

While working as agent/operator at Minturn I must have been combining job and railfanning on a splendid October day as a coal train arrives to pick up half a dozen or more helpers for a boost over... (more)

Tennessee Pass was still a hopping place but rumors of its demise had us visiting with plenty of Kodachrome on hand in June of 1994. To top off the visit, the majority of trains were running with... (more)

Colorado’s Minturn Yard is bustling with new Southern Pacific GE AC4400CWs on September 5, 1995. To the right on the main line, a helper set trailed by No. 143 returns from pushing tonnage up the ... (more)