Grande Finale – Rio Grandes Depart Colorado

There’s not really that much to say – I just wanted to start a visual log of the lines of dead Rio Grande power leaving Denver. UP has been allowing inoperable Rio Grande power to build up at Burnham for some time, and we all knew the end would eventually come. It looks as if the final exit for most of these units has now come as they leave in small blocks, mainly carried north on the North Yard – North Platte manifests (MNYNP), to destinations like National Railway Equipment in Silvis, IL, Larry’s Truck Electric in Ohio, and other unknown buyers. On Apr 6, 2002, DRGW 3060 and 3084 left Denver around 1800h on MNYNP for eventual interchange with the IAIS in Des Moines, IA, and their final trip to Silvis, IL, to be cut up. Two weeks later, again on MNYNP, DRGW 5353, 5386, and 5406 departed, spliced by a UP SD40-2, bound to North Platte and then points unknown. Within a few more weeks, most of the inoperable Rio Grande power will have vanished from home rails for good, and with it goes the source of parts that helps feed the remaining fleet. Their days, too, are now numbered.

The beginning of the exodus from Burnham's dead lines - D&RGW 3060, one of the last GP40s retired, departs Utah Junction on 6-Apr-2002 as one of the trailing units on MNYNP (North Yard - North Platte) — The beginning of the exodus from Burnham’s dead lines – D&RGW 3060, one of the last GP40s retired, departs Utah Junction on 6-Apr-2002 as one of the trailing units on MNYNP (North Yard – North Platte)

Misery loves company, and 3060 gets 3084, another dead GP40 bound for National Railway Equipment in Silvis, IL.

3084 and 3060 depart Denver one last time

Starting the second round of departures, UP 3498 leads MNYNP on 21-Apr-2002. DRGW 5353, 5386, and 5406 are being hauled out on this train.

The first dead unit in the set, DRGW 5353 heads northeast on MNYNP just east of Utah Junction. Forgive the color - my camera felt like overexposing today. — The first dead unit in the set, DRGW 5353 heads northeast on MNYNP just east of Utah Junction. Forgive the color – my camera felt like overexposing today.

DRGW 5386 is the second dead tunnel motor in the consist.

The other end of 5386 from the same location.

Bringing up the rear, DRGW 5406. 5406 is separated from the other two motors by UP 3562, an inoperable SD40-2.

The four units powering MNYNP and the four dead trailing units head out onto the Belt Line just east of Utah Junction.

The first set of motors is about to duck under the bridge and exit the Belt Line for the Greeley Sub.

Normally I wouldn't have included it, but somehow it seemed odd that the rolling dead line was waiting on this shining new SD70. — Normally I wouldn’t have included it, but somehow it seemed odd that the rolling dead line was waiting on this shining new SD70.

After letting the southbound manifest pass, DRGW 5353 trails along through Adams on its trip north.

Just a shot of DRGW 5386 passing through Adams.

The train approaches the south end of Brighton, CO, which will be my last stop for the day. The evening is wearing on, and I can only take so many shots of inoperable tunnel motors running through corn fields.

Heading on in to Brighton... — Heading on in to Brighton…

Even potentially on their way to the scrap pile, that Grande gold still looks good in the evening sunlight.

All shots in this trip report were taken with a Canon EOS D30 with a Tamron 28-300mm F3.5-6.3.

This work is copyright 2024 by Nathan D. Holmes, but all text and images are licensed and reusable under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Basically you’re welcome to use any of this as long as it’s not for commercial purposes, you credit me as the source, and you share any derivative works under the same license. I’d encourage others to consider similar licenses for their works.