The Rio Grande Southern Railroad (reporting mark RGS, also referred to as "The Southern") was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the US state of Colorado, from the towns of Durango to Ridgway, routed via Lizard Head Pass.

With the help of locating engineer Charles Wingate Gibbs, Mears managed to build the SRR to Ironton, which made it within 8 miles (12.9 km) of Ouray.

However, the remaining stretch through the Uncompahgre Gorge to Ouray was considered too difficult, despite the efforts and engineering feats that had been already accomplished by Mears and Gibbs to get the SRR to Ironton in the first place.

Still, depending on how bad the snow got, it often caused closures, and the cost to operate trains with their plow equipment was too much for the railroad during specific times as they required two to four locomotives to push them.

The official names given from the RGS were "Motors", but these railcars would later be unofficially named "Galloping Geese" by Railfans because of how they looked, operated, and sounded.- Waddling down the poorly maintained, unlevel RGS tracks with a silver-painted body and hood covers that looked like goose wings when opened up to prevent the motor from over-heating, and the horn sounding somewhat like a honking goose.

The first Goose (RGS Motor #1) was built from a recycled Buick body, frame, and engine, and #2 would be as well, but with a larger and enclosed freight compartment, a requirement to haul US mail.

These motor cars indeed were successful and handled daily services until 1940 when the RGS could afford to run regular freight trains.

The RGS was always having financial issues and was usually more than willing to sell worn out or excess locomotives and rolling stock hardware to the scrappers to stay afloat.

The D&RGW had to perform similar practices during the Great Depression, causing many typical classes of RGS and D&RG locomotives to almost go extinct.

It then continued southeast, curving around up the side of Yellow Mountain to the Townsite of Ophir with the help of numerous, large trestle bridges.

It then looped around to the southwest and continued up the side of Yellow Mountain to Trout Lake, curving around it to the Summit of Lizard Head Pass.

It then looped back around the east, near the original Fort Lewis campus, heading northeast into Wild Cat Canyon.

The Montezuma Lumber Company operated a railroad line that branched off the RGS Main in a few different places in Dolores.

The mine was located on the southwest side of Durango's Perins Peak, and George was interested in building a railroad line to service it.

The BC&F Railroad branched off the RGS main at Franklin Junction (presumably named after him) and curved its way 5 and 1/2 Miles up the hillside to the mine.

The railroad spur started operation on 25 November, of that year, and was noted often pulling seven gondolas down to Franklin Junction and back three times a day.

As the Rio Grande Southern was not a wealthy railroad for most of its life, the locomotives owned were all second (or more) hand, mostly from the D&RGW.

The RGS did however manage to have their own fleet of freight equipment (for a time) and passenger cars, as well as cabooses, all of which were purchased second hand from the defunct Rio Grande Western as well as the D&RG and had to be heavily overhauled.

While the Rio Grande Southern route may be long gone, reclaimed by nature and newer development of civilization, there are still many artifacts from the railroad that still exist today.