Salida was once a railroad town, where Rio Grande had a large dual gauge yard, two roundhouses, company hospital and many other functions necessary for a busy division point. Narrow gauge trains from the main line over Marshall Pass from Montrose, as well as limestone trains off of Monarch Pass and Valley trains from over Poncha Pass would end their runs here. Of course, the Rio Grande’s “broad gauge” main line over Tennessee Pass between Pueblo and Salt Lake City passed through this locale, trains pausing to change crews.
Over the years, changes came to the railroad in town, and not for the better. The narrow gauge disappeared in the mid-1950’s, and roundhouses soon followed. The crew change moved to Minturn in 1974, and after the abandonment of the Monarch Branch in 1984, even the yard didn’t have much reason for being. Rio Grande, and later, Southern Pacific continued to run trains through town over the main line, but through trains ended soon after the Union Pacific takeover in 1997. A local still trundled through town until March 8-9, 1999, when it too made its last run, picking up some gons in the yard on its final eastbound run. Then the yard was empty and silent…
Today, the railroad through Salida is hardly visible. The siding is on my right, while a mountain biker jumps over the rails of the long-unused main line. A lowly spur on the far right is all that’s visible of any yard tracks, and everything is getting overgrown. Salida is still an vibrant and important place, it’s just not a railroad town anymore.
