America's Highest, Steepest Mainline Railroad

This was the highest and one of the steepest busy Mainline Railroads at the time in the US with 3% grades and 40,000 HP trains. With 20 trains a day see plenty of manifests, coal, taconite and others. Colorful pool power, manned helpers and great train pacing plus all the heavy, intense action in a beautiful mountain setting. Power-heavy 100 car coal trains with 9 ACs battling the high altitude and steep grades like you'll never see again. Acclaimed by critics and fans alike, this has been a best selling video featuring Southern Pacific and the Rio Grande in a never to repeated show of force.
These are all visions you can no longer see!

In 1996, UP bought Southern Pacific. UP preferred the Moffat Tunnel for routing traffic. The last revenue train went over the Tennessee Pass on August 23, 1997.

Our movie crews were there to capture the last months of operation. Coal, Manifest and merchandise trains all run by the two cameras on a journey from Pueblo to Dotsero, Colorado where the line joins with the Moffat Route. We also show early the history of regional narrow and standard gauge development and explain the DRGW operating strategies right to the end of operation. A surprise includes a solid segment on surviving DRGW power on the Southern Pacific system into the late 90's. Included are GP-30, SD-50s, SD45s, and sets of DRGW SD45t-2's pulling on steep grades. The Tennessee Pass line is closed for now but you can relive all the action in this critically acclaimed beautifully shot 90 minute documentary