Southern San Luis Valley Railroad

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The Southern San Luis Valley Railroad Co. operated freight service on an irregular basis from a connection with the Denver & Rio Grande Western (DRGW) at Blanca, Colorado to the scoria processing plant at McClintock, Colorado (map: [1]), approximately 1.53 miles. Freight traffic included farm produce, fertilizer and volcanic scoria (lava rock). The Railroad is currently temporarily out of service.

The SSLV was unique in that one of the locomotives used on this operation was home built (the D-500). The D-500 runs on standard locomotive tender trucks which are powered through a chain and sprocket drive from an International UD24 engine. The locomotive resembled a caboose, but was built from scratch in Mesita Colorado on a D&RGW steam locomotive tender frame (D&RGW #964). This was done out of necessity as the railroad could not afford to replace-by-purchase its two ex-D&RGW C-28's (105 and 106) which were on the verge of being condemned.

The D-500 is powered by a 1091 cubic inch International Harvester engine through a hydraulic transmission. This in turn powers an old euclid truck axle that is used to transmit power to the chains for the axles. It was built as a turret cab for maximimum visibility. All the construction was handled in 1954/55 by SLVS personnel.

The railroad has a second locomotive, a Plymouth ML8 (builder #4161) purchased from Utah Power and Light in 1977. The Gasoline engine was pulled out of it in 1980 so a caterpillar diesel engine could be installed in its place. However the swap was never completed and the locomotive sits derelict without an engine.

The railroad was incorporated July 3, 1909, as the San Luis Southern Railway and opened a rail line from Blanca to Jaroso, Colorado. The company was reorganized as the San Luis Valley Southern Railroad in 1928 and was again sold and reorganized as the Southern San Luis Valley Railroad Co. on December 11, 1953.

The railroad owned seven different steam locomotives over the years they are: #100 and #101 both Brooks 4-6-0 Locomotives bought used From Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, #102 (2-6-0) built by Baldwin, bought new by the San Luis Southern, #103(DRGW 657), #104(DRGW 633), #105(DRGW 688), #106(DRGW 683)all C-28's (2-8-0) bought from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The railroad also operated a motorcar built by Timpte called the M300. It possibly resides derelict at a museum in Texas.

All of the line, except the last 1.53 miles, was closed and dismantled in 1958. Operations of the SSLV ceased some time late in 1994, although the track remains in place (2006). The Property is not abandoned and the current owners are dismayed by the amount of damage being done by thoughtless trespassers who have been stealing equipment off the locomotives and breaking and destroying property.

In 2007, it was reported that the SSLV had been sold to the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad, possibly including the two derelict locomotives. Reports indicate that the SLRG intends to use the SSLV trackage for freight car storage.

SSLV steam engine #106 -- restored to its original D&RGW #683 -- was sold to the Colorado Railroad Museum [2] in 1962 and can now be seen on display at the museum. [3]