OVERVIEW & OPERATIONS

Entering the layout room, the tall timber trestle spanning the North Fork on your immediate right catches your eye.  The trestle has a single bent center span across the ravine and damn just below Martha’s pond.

 

 

Across the room to the Left is the busy town of Rockwood, Colorado and the origin point of the Durango, Rico and Northern Railroad.  It will boast of a large engine servicing area where careful maintenance is done in preparation for the long descent to the North Fork Loop and to Scotch Creek Junction.

 

 

To the very far right is the Western Terminal of Scotch Creek Junction where this Railroad connects with the Rio Grande Southern and rail access to the towns of Rico or Delores and beyond.

 

 

  On its way to the North Fork Loop, the main line will descend along the Hermosa Cliffs, and then pass over a feeder branch of Elbert Creek before entering the Purgatory Ridge tunnel. Once thru the tunnel the track enters North Fork Loop via the tall timber trestle as it steadily descends into Hermosa Park Valley. 

Towards the Western end of the valley the main will cross another timber trestle and then a steel gider bridge before stopping at the Parks station. Below the steel girder bridge is the  branch line cuts off from the main line at Timberline and provides two spur tracks into the valley floor. 

One crosses back over Hermosa Creek to the Mill’s Power House on the North of Martha’s pond, and the other spur on the South Side of the pond serves the Mill Complex, its loading docks and service track.

As the main line leaves Hermosa Park it heads towards the Northwest, and the logging camps at Timberline. High above the valley floor are other tracks that service the mines and aerial trams which feed the mill complex in the Park.  Along the way the mail line passes several sidings and spurs that head off into the lumber filled woods.

These woods are another source of revenue for the railroad.  The logs are shipped over the crest of the ridge to Scotch Creek Junction and the connecting trackage to the McPhee Mill at Delores.

At Scotch Creek Junction the railroad interchanges with the Rio Grande Southern.  Only a turning wye and basic servicing facilities are at this end of the line. If a locomotive or car is in need of repairs it is set out on the RGS passing siding for repairs or deadheaded back to Rockwood or Rico.  The town of Scotch Creek also has just the basic services for both the train crews and the loggers or miners coming down from the hills.