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Saskatoon railfan
Registered: July 2004
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Posts: 901
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The Denver Rock Island Railroad is the only terminal railway located in Denver, CO – a sharp contrast to the four in the San Francisco Bay area (San Francisco Belt, Oakland Terminal, Alameda Belt Line & Richmond Pacific).
The shortline began with Rock Island’s bankruptcy in 1980 when the Denver Terminal Railroad Company (DTMR) took over their industrial trackage in the Denver area. In 1989 the tracks were sold to Denver Railway, Inc (DRI). After defaulting on a loan, Platt Valley Railway (PVR)/Great Western Railway Company (OmniTRAX) took over. Finally in 1993 when their contract expired, DTMR took back ownership now operating as Denver Rock Island (DRIR). Confusing enough?
Today DRIR operates on seven miles of trackage, including four miles of original Rock Island rail still owned by Union Pacific. According to Wikipedia they have five engines:
DRIR 1083 SW1500 ex-UP Y1083 (2003) nee SP 2480
DRIR 417 NW2 ex-SLSF 257
I’ve spotted one of these locomotives at the Franklin St yard, too many cars to get good photos, so I didn’t bother.
DRIR 996 NW2 ex-BN 419 nee SLSF 259 wearing WC type colours
DRIR ? SW1 ex-BN 88 green
I spotted both these engines at the 56th St shop – good rosters can be had if they weren’t blocked by a rail crane.
DRIR 1211 SW1500 ex-UP Y1211 (2003) nee SP 2646 at 66th st
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