I think this footage is from the early-mid 2000's, not 1980s-1990's. The line was largely rehabilitated, but the owner of the line ruffled a lot of feathers in Creede, which was worried that they would become a similar town to Silverton with the railroad dumping off hundreds of passengers. The rails through town had been pulled up in the 1980's but the owner claimed they were unlawfully removed and claimed the right to rebuild them. Eventually the county (of which Creede is the only town) successfully argued in court that the line had been abandoned and immediately paved over all of the railroad highway crossings past Wagon Wheel Gap once the ruling was made. The owner ran into some financial troubles with some of his properties that stored railroad equipment he intended to use for the operation, and I am not sure whether he ultimately sold it. Currently the line from South Fork to Wagon Wheel Gap operates as a railbike operation, but it is unlikely it will ever reopen to Creede.
This looks like the RIO GRANDE SOUTHERN /
Was the project ever completed? Since the D&RGW is no longer and now part of the UP System?
I’m talking about the abandoned line, not the defunct Railroad Company.
I think this footage is from the early-mid 2000's, not 1980s-1990's. The line was largely rehabilitated, but the owner of the line ruffled a lot of feathers in Creede, which was worried that they would become a similar town to Silverton with the railroad dumping off hundreds of passengers. The rails through town had been pulled up in the 1980's but the owner claimed they were unlawfully removed and claimed the right to rebuild them.
Eventually the county (of which Creede is the only town) successfully argued in court that the line had been abandoned and immediately paved over all of the railroad highway crossings past Wagon Wheel Gap once the ruling was made. The owner ran into some financial troubles with some of his properties that stored railroad equipment he intended to use for the operation, and I am not sure whether he ultimately sold it.
Currently the line from South Fork to Wagon Wheel Gap operates as a railbike operation, but it is unlikely it will ever reopen to Creede.