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| Last updated on August 7, 2025
The Denver & Rio Grande Western, symbol of so much of Colorado railroading, had nowhere else to go for traffic. After laying tracks in search of gold and silver, it was coal that made the road. A westbound freight appropriately heads up Coal Creek Canyon west of Denver on the Front Range in 1972.
Ron Burkhard photo
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D&RGW SD45 #5317 and D&RGW GP40-2 #3074 were both five years old when the photo was taken…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün