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... under construction
Some of you may be wondering "so what the heck is this Joint Line anyway?"
Good question.
The Joint Line connects the rail hubs of Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, running 105 miles along the foot of the Rocky Mountains from South Denver through Colorado Springs to Bragdon, just north of Pueblo. It consists of the combined rights of way of the Denver & Rio Grande Western and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads, with each road having separate approach and terminal trackage in Denver and Pueblo. The line is jointly operated as one ABS-signalled double track railroad, except for a 33-mile stretch of CTC-controlled single track from Palmer Lake south through Colorado Springs to Crews. This paired right of way arrangement was dictated by the USRA in 1918 and the operating benefits subsequently convinced the two roads to continue the practice to this day, although presently the owners are Union Pacific and BNSF.
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The Denver & Rio Grande was the first railroad to build south from Denver along what is now the Joint Line, completing its 3-foot gauge mainline as far as Pueblo in 1872. The Rio Grande added a third rail to this track in 1881, bowing to the inevitability of a switch to standard gauge, and Santa Fe passenger trains began running north to Denver on it, but then in 1887 the Santa Fe built its own parallel line north to Denver. Its locating engineers had to cross the Rio Grande at three locations, but the Grande refused permission to cross its rails at grade, so the Santa Fe had to construct long fill flyover ramps and bridges at Sedalia, Spruce and Fountain to complete the route.
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Such was the status quo until 1900, when the Santa Fe and the Colorado & Southern implemented a joint operating contract that allowed the C&S to vacate it's own inferior standard gauge route between Denver and Pueblo and use the Santa Fe track instead. The undulating C&S route was located well to the east of the AT&SF and D&RGW lines and had been built by the Denver & New Orleans in 1882. Under the Joint Line Contract C&S could not solicit or handle traffic at stations along the Santa Fe, except at Colorado Springs, where the C&S had it's own track and customers. Colorado & Southern trackage rights on the Santa Fe continued after the C&S became a subsidiary of the CB&Q, and then the Burlington Northern in 1970.
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The situation changed again in 1918 during World War I, when the USRA dictated that the Santa Fe and Rio Grande operate their two tracks as one double-track route with directional running to expedite train movements and eliminate wasteful duplication during war time. Connecting tracks were constructed at Sedalia, Spruce and Fountain and the flyover tracks were pulled up, although the fill ramps remain to this day. The resulting eastern trackage became the northbound main, the western trackage the southbound main, regardless of ownership.
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The next physical change was even more radical. While the Rio Grande route through Colorado Springs was located down on the bench beside Monument Creek, the Santa Fe alignment sat on high ground to the east, running right through residential neighbourhoods, complete with numerous level street crossings. Under pressure from city residents, local authorities in Colorado Springs and the Colorado Dept. of Transportation convinced the Santa Fe to abandon their main track through the Springs and use the Rio Grande's instead. In 1974 new connections were built to the north at Palmer Lake and to the south at Kelker and Crews, and the northward Santa Fe main from Kelker through Colorado Springs to Palmer Lake and the southward Rio Grande main between Kelker and Crews were removed.
As part of the conversion to single track, CTC signals and sidings were installed to allow Dispatcher control of bi-directional movements, and the Rio Grande's Springs yard was rebuilt to accommodate the increase in traffic to be handled. Santa Fe kept the truncated southerly portion of their yard to service active customers, including some reached by C&S street trackage. Also kept was an isolated segment of their main track on the north side of town at Pikeview to reach a few remaining customers, accessing it by a connecting track off a Rock Island branchline.
In
the department of unforseen consequences, the conversion of part of the
Joint Line to single track took place just before the development of the
Powder River coal basin in Wyoming began flooding the Joint Line with
unit coal trains heading south to Texas, thus turning it into a bottle neck.
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The Rock Island branch (originally mainline) into Colorado Springs ran from Limon, out on the high plains to the east, where the RI takes to the UP's Kansas Pacific line to reach Denver. The branch meets the Joint Line at Roswell and turns south to run beside it for two miles before tying into the Joint Line to run the final few hundred yards to reach the joint D&RGW-CRI&P passenger depot and the Rio Grande yard.
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There have been substantial physical changes to the Joint Line in the greater Denver area since 1974, and changes on the single track segment through Colorado Springs have been only slightly less dramatic, with incremental upgrading of the Rio Grande right of way and plant, such as the switch to concrete ties and the removal of no longer used side tracks and facilities. The Rock Island stopped running into town in 1980, but the Rio Grande eventually took over service to its few remaining customers. Also of note are the building of new bridges over Rockrimmon Rd and Garden of the Gods Rd to replace busy grade crossings, and the replacement of several older street and highway overpasses with the rebuilding of Interstate 25 through the Springs, not to mention explosive population growth and spreading sprawl along the rail corridor. But happily those changes still lie in the future on my layout.
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A future Part 2 will be a station by station look at the Joint Line from Denver to Pueblo, with emphasis on the section through Colorado Springs, of course.
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