Part 8: Cimmaron to Gunnison                    Railway Pages Index

Highway US50 takes you along classic D&RGW country. The first stop east bound after Montrose is the Cimarron Canyon sheep loading exhibit maintained by the US National Forest Service. A static display of sheep loading facilities, two double deck sheep cars and a MOW camp car are easily accessible.

A half mile up the canyon, the Service has mounted D&RGW #278, 2 freight cars, and caboose #0577 on the bridge. It is isolated from the land so vandals can’t do any damage. These have been maintained very well and look as they did in 1940.

After Cimarron, take the sideroad to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park visitor center. A short walk to the view point will illustrate why it is called Black Canyon.

At Gunnison, visit the Gunnison Pioneer Museum on the highway. Here D&RGW #268 in Bumblebee livery sits under a replica snow shed to protect it a bit from the weather. My 1994 photos show the engine in black and silver before the fake smokestack was removed. Various freight and MOW cars, including flanges OF and OD, with long caboose #0589 are tagged to #268.

The historic buildings are beautifully maintained and very photogenic. The large machine shop holds a great collection of well restored autos and trucks, that weren’t present on my first trip in 1994. These 3 stops will kill most of the day and still leave time to reach the next destination. Photos are from 1994 unless otherwise noted.

CIMMARON

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BLACK CANYON

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GUNNISON

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Websites of Interest
http://www.nps.gov/blca/webvc/hiscim.htm
http://www.nps.gov/blca/webvc/cimrr.htm
http://www.nps.gov/blca/webvc/ngrr.htm

Continue to Part Nine

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.

"I am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27, HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940, the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece. I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books, covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk, ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience, my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."