I suspect that the timing was wrong. By 1890, it was obvious that the narrow-gauge mainline through Delta and Montrose would be nothing more than a secondary line. The main traffic, from that point on, was mostly coal traffic from the North Fork and whatever passenger and freight traffic came out of Montrose, Olathe, and Delta (passenger service ended in 1952). One also has to realize that, after 1893, the D&RG was in a succession of financial difficulties and receiverships until after World War II. For many years, until the mid to late 1970's, that North Fork coal traffic amounted to about one coal train per day. Running time wasn't much of an issue--most coal trains could make a round trip to the mines on the North Fork, including loading, and make it back to Grand Junction within the crew's hours of service. That didn't change until multiple daily 100 car+ coal trains started running. The limitation of places to meet those long trains on the Branch--Bridgeport, Roubideaux, Delta, Rogers Mesa, Converse, Somerset, and Oliver (Whitewater siding was lengthened later on) was what necessitated re-crewing in later years. As for the Montrose Local, it usually ran (and generally still does) from Grand Junction to Delta or Montrose (depending on traffic) on one day, then returned to Grand Junction on another, with the train tied up in Delta or Montrose during the interim. For a number of years, the line from Delta to Montrose has been listed as the "Montrose Industrial Lead" and is all within Yard Limits.
One other aside, very few photos exist of a narrow-gauge train on the North Fork Branch. One is of a construction train just east of Austin, with D&RG #57, a Class 56 Consolidation, doing the honors.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2015 12:45PM by Wade Hall.
