In 2018, as part of the National Narrow Gauge Convention, "Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad" (C&T) held a Rio Grande Southern re-creation charter along the C&T featuring an ex-Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-2 Mikado class K-27 lettered for Rio Grande Southern engine number 455, several repainted cars, and authentic Rio Grande Southern caboose number 0400.

Rio Grande Southern - Wikipedia

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Mallory Hope Ferrell.1973Pruett Publishing Co.Hardcover.643 pages, 8.7 x 11 inches, $120.00 (Amazon)Fascinating and detailed history of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and its spectacular lines through the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Illustrated with over 500 black and white photos as well as color paintings by Howard Fogg, Mike Pearsall, Del Gerbaz, Phillip Ronfor, and Richard Ward. With system map (1890) and Employee Timetable (1911) in rear pocket. 643 pages with index.Stan Rhine.1988Colorado Railroad Museum.Paperback.62 pages, 8.8 x 11.2 inches, $14.00 (Amazon)Fascinating pictorial history of the eight Galloping Geese on the Rio Grande Southern, packed with black and white photos showing the hardworking vehicles in every kind of weather and hauling both merchandise and passengers. The author describes the fraught financial state of the RGS that led to the development of the Geese and their use over the decades until the RGS finally succumbed to its final bankruptcy. With roster (providing technical data for each Goose), a delightful 2 page Carl Fallberg comic, directions for building a model Goose, and maps. Note: material in this book was originally printed in the Colorado Rail Annual No. 9 (1971).Russ Collman & Dell A. McCoy.1990-2006Sundance Books.Hardcover.? pages, ? x ? inches, $100.00-$222.74 (Amazon)First book in a series of twelve volumes. Volume 12 is illustrated with color and black and white photographs. Includes an index to pictures of passenger cars shown in Volumes 1 through 10.Doris B. Osterwald.1994Western Guideways.Hardcover.204 pages, 9 x 11.5 inches, $593.99 (Amazon)A history of the mountains of SW Colorado. Ballough is the medium, arriving in 1892 or 1893 in Rico between Cortez and the mining district centered on Telluride. He worked as a photographer, miner, and on train crews for the next 30 years making many photos of the mines, towns, and narrow gauge railroads that developed to serve the region. Durango, Dunton, and Chama, New Mexico define the limits of his records and the history provided here by Osterwald. Includes some 200 previously unpublished photographs. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Oregon.Richard L. Dorman.1994R.D. Publications.Hardcover.344 pages, 12.5 x 9.5 inches, $79.97 (Amazon)This is Volume 2 of An Ultimate Pictorial Study of the Rio Grande Southern, is designed to supplement Dorman's The Southern: A Narrow Gauge Odyssey. It is divided into three twenty year sections with hundreds of rare, usually never before published scenes, designed to bring the RGS to life from 1890 when Otto Mears took serious action until 1951 when the line was abandoned. Many of the photos have been enhanced by double printing on the duotone process. The problems and triumphs of each twenty year section are captured and then enhanced by narratives from railroaders who recorded their experiences. With maps. 344 pages with index.James L. Ehernberger.1996Challenger Press.Hardcover.? pages, 8.7 x 11.2 inches, $129.95 (Amazon)The final years of this Colorado narrow gauge railroad including the story of the decline and abandonment of the narrow gauge Rio Grande Southern Railroad in southwest Colorado. This first volume covers the slow years of receivership and abandonment.James L. Ehernberger.1998Challenger Press.Hardcover.192 pages, 12.8 x 17 inches, $57.30 (Amazon)Beautifully done pictorial of the Rio Grande Southern with over 325 rare black and white photos and filled with previously unpublished historical material. The book is divided into The Property (equipment, facilities, and track data), The Operations (including excursion days and derailments), and The Last Sunset (showing the dismantlement and remains). Photos show every aspect of life on the RGS, locomotives (at rest and in action), rolling stock, MOW equipment, stations, structures, and Galloping Geese. With final list of employees, accident reports, track profile with mileposts, timetables, list of insured buildings, maps, chronology, and bibliography. Includes complete index for Volumes 1 and 2.Robert W. Richardson.2002Heimburger House Publishing Co.Hardcover.200 pages, 12.2 x 9.3 inches, $35.08 (Amazon)Today one man is specially recognized as one of the founders of the narrow gauge railroad preservation movement in the United States. He is Robert W. Richardson, who with a friend started the Narrow Gauge Motel in a remote section of Colorado in 1949. Later he and a friend began the Narrow Gauge Museum in Alamosa, which helped initiate the safekeeping of narrow gauge rolling stock, hardware, and paper memorabilia. The collection he and Cornelius Hauck started, now housed at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, has grown so large it requires a number of staff and volunteers to catalog and maintain. In this nostalgic volume, Bob recounts his early days as an editor, advertising coordinator, member of the U.S. Armed Forces, motel owner and later as head of the largest narrow gauge railroad museum in the country. Primarily, it highlights Bob's life as an avid narrow gauge fan during the last two decades the Colorado Narrow Gauge still operated as a common carrier. 267 color and black and white photographs, maps, charts and ephemera.Robert W. Richardson.2005Heimburger House Publishing Co.Hardcover.208 pages, 12.2 x 9.4 inches, $40.12 (Amazon)In this second volume of his narrow gauge chronicle, noted narrow gauge preservationist Robert Richardson takes a close look at the Rio Grande's Silverton and Farmington branches, the Third Division between Salida, Gunnison, and Montrose, and the Valley Line between Mears Junction and Alamosa, Colorado. With 50-year-old photographs and firsthand accounts, Richardson offers the most authoritative chronicle yet on this portion of the Denver & Rio Grande Western's Rocky Mountain narrow gauge railroad empire. In a landscape format that lends itself to large photographs, Bob shows the railroad, its operations and equipment in dramatic style. This 208 page book features color covers and an all-color, 16 page photo section with photos taken as far back as 1950. Features 100 pound glossy, enameled paper and a beautiful Gil Bennett color painting on the cover.Robert W. Richardson.2011Heimburger House Publishing Co.Hardcover.224 pages, 12.1 x 9.4 inches, $68.69 (Amazon)In Volume 3 of Bob Richardson's Chasing the Narrow Gauge trilogy, he takes a close look at the Rio Grande Southern, the 162 mile narrow gauge route that wrapped itself around the craggy and forested San Juan Mountains between Durango and Ridgway, Colorado. Otto Mears built his railroad in just two years, which climbed four mountain passes and featured 142 bridges that included numerous high, spindly, trestles. In this 224 page book, Bob hones in on the town of Ridgway, the various RGS oasis towns in the wilderness, mine-rich Telluride, the RGS' locomotive fleet, the Galloping Goose era and high-in-the-sky Ophir. He also talks about important old RGS records and how he obtained copies, relates humorous insights about hunting season on the line, the Montezuma Lumber Company operations at McPhee that lasted until 1948, and the last runs of the famed RGS trains. In 14 chapters, Bob captures locomotive number 455 in his lens, the 1903 built D&RG engine that was the heaviest RGS motive power. He describes the derelict state of the yards at Ridgway as the railroad ran out of steam, and he ponders the downward fate of Rico in 1951 as a once-thriving mining town. Vance Junction, Dallas Divide, and Placerville are afforded their share of glory as well in this authoritative volume. The Galloping Goose era deserves a special chapter as the author intrigues and delights us with memorabilia and photographs from their daily 102 mile trips (Ridgway-Dolores) over the line. Nothing much happened to them on a daily basis, but when it did... it was noteworthy!