Royal Gorge Route Railroad
A 1950s-era train makes daily 2-hour excursion runs from the Santa Fe Depot through the Royal Gorge along a famous section of the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
The Rio Grande, whose track ended 0.75 miles (1.21 km) from downtown Cañon City,[N 2] raced crews to the same area, but they were blocked by Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon.
The Rio Grande promptly appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court and began work to finish a line in the upper 30 miles (48 km) of the canyon.
[N 3] Santa Fe resorted to its larger corporate power and announced it would build standard-gauge tracks parallel to and in competition with existing narrow-gauge D&RG lines.
An end to the struggle appeared to be at hand when the companies reached agreement on the proposed lease to all of the D&RG tracks, equipment, buildings and employees to AT&SF for a 30-year period.
Both sides began assembling armed groups of men again to seize and hold strategic points in the gorge in anticipation of a favorable judgment by the Supreme Court.
[4] In early June 1879, when it appeared the issue was about to be resolved in favor of the Rio Grande, Masterson and 60 men hurriedly returned by special train, taking up a key position at the defensible Santa Fe roundhouse in Pueblo.
They met with Pueblo County Sheriff Henly R. Price and Town Marshal Pat Desmond on the best means to serve the writ and dispossess Masterson's men of the roundhouse.
They marched to the railroad platform, broke down the door to the telegraph office, and when shots were fired, Masterson's men fled through the back windows, cutting him off from any communication with his employers.
The D&RG paid the Santa Fe $1.8 million (which included a $400,000 "bonus" over actual costs) for the railroad it had built in the gorge, the grading it had completed, materials on hand, and interest.
[citation needed] In 1997, Union Pacific was persuaded to sell the 12 miles (19 km) of track through the Royal Gorge in an effort to preserve this scenic route.
Train movements from Pueblo CO to Canon City CO on the Tennessee Pass are controlled by the Union Pacific Harriman Dispatch Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
