On the afternoon of October 24, 1965 Santa Fe 600/2133/604, an all-Alco RSD7-RSD5-RSD7 combination, grind up the three and half-mile climb from Monument at 6975 feet, to Palmer Lake at 7250 feet, with a La Junta-Denver freight. It’s a slog that taxes even the hard-pulling Alcos and occasionally requires that trains double the hill. By 1974, this track will be gone, torn up in a misguided effort to rationalize traffic on the Joint Line between Colorado Springs and Palmer Divide. Soon after will come the flood of Powder River coal and empties, swamping the remaining line, Rio Grande’s southbound track, and creating an enduring bottleneck.
