Rio Grande In Color Volume 7: Front Range

Hardcover with dust jacket, 128 pages, Color photography with captions.

The Front Range mountains west of Denver are a formidable railroading challenge. The Rio Grande and its predecessor Denver North Western and Pacific overcame them by going over them and then through them via the Moffat Tunnel. In this book we witness the final days of Rio Grande-powered trains in the 1990s as they charge up 2% grades, 10-degree curves, and 28 tunnels to the Moffat Tunnel at the Continental Divide.

The reader will also get a look at giant coal trains using three separate power consists holding back their tonnage as they descend from the Divide into Denver. The coverage extends west through Byers Canyon and Gore Canyon to see the Rio Grande moving freight "Thru the Rockies, not around them"!

The photographers had to deal with a lot of rugged terrain for these photos. Overall they did a good job. There is a color map of the route to give the reader an idea of the photo locations. The trains were photographed in all seasons - including Winter.

Contents:
Denver, pp. 6-17,
Rocky to Clay, pp. 18-26,
Coal Creek Canyon, pp. 27-39,
Plainview, pp. 40-50,
The Lower Tunnels, pp. 51-64,
Crescent, pp. 65-75,
The Upper Tunnels, pp. 76-87,
Pinecliffe and Rollinsville, pp. 88-97,
Tolland - East Portal, pp. 98-106,
Winter Park, pp. 107-115,
Middle Park, pp. 116-128.

• New
• Hardcover
• Jeff Simley
• Morning Sun Books