Colorado Porch

Tag

rio grande southern

6 Porch Notes tagged “rio grande southern,” from counties across Colorado.

History and culture - Ouray County

Otto Mears built the roads and rails that shaped Ouray County

Many of Ouray County's roads and rail lines trace back to Otto Mears, the late-1800s toll-road and railroad builder whose routes through the San Juans still underlie the modern map.

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History and culture - Dolores County

Rico and the railroad: why a mountain town sits in Dolores County

Rico grew from a silver strike and a narrow-gauge railroad that ran over Lizard Head Pass, which is why a former mining town anchors the county's mountainous east end.

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History and culture - Ouray County

Ridgway grew up around a railroad, and a museum keeps that story

The town of Ridgway began as the northern terminus of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, and the Ridgway Railroad Museum tells that story, including the line's famous Galloping Goose railcars.

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History and culture - Montezuma County

The Galloping Goose in Dolores is a leftover from a vanished railroad

Dolores keeps a restored 'Galloping Goose,' a homemade motor car the Rio Grande Southern Railroad used to survive in its final decades before the line was scrapped.

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History and culture - San Miguel County

The Galloping Goose: how a struggling railroad kept Telluride connected

The narrow-gauge Rio Grande Southern once served Telluride, and during hard times it ran odd rail cars called Galloping Geese to keep going.

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History and culture - Montezuma County

Dolores grew up around a railroad, and its oldest hotel still shows it

Dolores took shape as a stop on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, and the town's oldest building, the Southern Hotel, was named for that line.

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