Brief by Central Staff
Transportation – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s hard to walk more than a few yards in downtown Salida without seeing a store-window poster that says we should “Keep Steam Alive,” even though steam engines haven’t operated out of Salida since the Monarch Spur went to standard-gauge and diesel in 1956.
Those posters, and the associated proposal for the Salida & Buena Vista Railroad, are the brainchild of John Wagner, who moved to Salida last fall from Santa Fé.
That wasn’t his original home. As he puts it, he’s “lived all over,” including stints in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, and he’s made a living as an artist – not only paint on canvas, but also sculpting marionettes and staging shows with the puppets.
As soon as he had unpacked in Salida, “the railroad idea grew suddenly. I just felt the population longing for a railroad.”
Salida was founded in 1880 as a place to service steam locomotives, and Wagner has been giving serious thought to a return for steam here. He’s got a line on two 4-6-2 steam locomotives in running condition, “and they’re perfect for a short tourist railroad.”
They would be fueled with fuel oil, rather than coal, to reduce pollution problems, and he figures on two trains a day to Buena Vista and back. The trip up the river would take about an hour, people would have an hour to explore Buena Vista, and then another hour for the return trip. That’s a track speed of only 25 mph, but nobody’s in any great hurry on this kind of scenic excursion, which would include Brown’s Cañon.
Wagner cited an article in the May, 2005, edition of Trains Magazine, which gave three hours as a sensible round-trip time for a tourist operation. Any longer, and kids can get bored, which leads to parental dismay; shorter, and people don’t feel that they’re getting their money’s worth. The article also quoted a tourist-railroad consultant: “Whether they know it or not, 21st-century steam-locomotive operators are in the entertainment business, not the rail transportation business.”
A Salida-Buena Vista operation would need not just locomotives and cars, but stations with parking and restrooms at each end, as well as some locomotive-service facility, since steam locomotives take a lot of maintenance. And then there’s the major matter of getting trackage rights from the Union Pacific, which acquired the line in a 1996 merger, but soon put the line “out of service.”
Wagner has found a lawyer and a couple of other people willing to work with him toward the steam goal. “Sure, it’s a big gamble,” he said, “but if there’s something you really want, you can’t just sit back and expect others to do it. You’ve got to get in there.”
He offers more information at his website, www.rockymountainrailroad.us, and welcomes interested callers at 719-539-7421.
