Large black and white photos and detailed route maps show how this gutsy railroad worked through the Rockies, rather than navigating around them. Shows one of the most scenic stretches of North American railroading ever engineered.

"Robert LeMassena, one of America's foremost steam locomotive historians, takes another look at the D&RGW's standard gauge steam locomotives in the "big power" era and ending with the last of steam. he looks at the Rio Grande's profile, traffic, and geography, and how the railraod met its needs with some of the biggest, most powerful and most efficient non-articulated and articulated steam locomotives in American railroading. His concise, brief overview sheds new light on the motive power of this interesting and highly regarded Western railroad." --From back cover

"There's a high level of excitement and interest in the Rio Grande's narrow gauge lines today. Perhaps more so now than at any other time since the narrow gauge lines were built. There has always been a certain romance of the rails where 3-foot-gauge trackage is concerned, and even more so with those lines that ran through the scenic wonders of our country, such as the Rocky Mountains. Dreamer and railroad builder General William J. Palmer projected a railroad to Mexico City, but instead his 3-foot railroad went west, to Salt Lake City and Ogden." --From inside of book jacket

Take a nostalgic 100 year Journey through the Rocky Mountains aboard the narrow gauge railways that snaked through them.

The Rio Grande Railroad operated in the spectacular Colorado Rockies. Their slogan was "Through the Rockies, not Around Them." Photos include 2-8-0 Consolidations, 2-8-2 Mikado's, 0-6-0 six-wheeler, 4-6-0 ten-wheeler, the big 4-8-4 Northerns that Rio Grande liked to call "Westerns" and the larger 2-8-8-2 Mallets. Also included are Electro-Motive passenger and freight locomotives FT, F3, F7, General Purpose and Special Duty series, Electro-Motive SD40T-2 "Tunnel Motors," SD45 and SD50 locomotives, American Locomotive PA-PB and RS-3 series, Fairbanks-Morse H-15-44, and diesel-hydraulic ML-4 locomotives from German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei.

In the course of the hundreds of Rio Chama rafting trips that we've logged during the last 30 years, none of us has ever had a bad trip. Such is the magic of the Rio Chama. No matter the weather, the water level, the season, the crowded Big Eddy boat ramp on a blistering Sunday afternoon, or even the coffee forgotten at home, the Rio Chama remains "The People's River." Its stunning beauty, plus its exceptional camping, user-friendly whitewater, and mostly predictable flows, combine to create one of the Southwest's premiere, multi-day, river running experiences.The spectacular, towering canyon walls of the Wild & Scenic section through the remote Chama River Canyon Wilderness is New Mexico's own "Grand Canyon." The geology of the Rio Chama is so exceptional that this river is ideally suited for a river guide with a geological theme. And so, following the release of the Rio Grande geologic river guide in 2011, we turned our (part-time) attention to the Rio Chama. Although most Rio Chama recreation is focused on the El Vado to Big Eddy stretch, thedecision was easily made to include the entire boatable section, from the highlands in Colorado to the confluence with the Rio Grande, as each section of the river displays its own visual spectacles and assortment of adventures. Plus, the geology is magnificent and diverse along the entire length of the river.

"Born on the frontier at American Fork, Utah Territory, two years after the Denver & Rio Grande Western reached town, Judge Wilson McCarthy lived to try to harness the wonders of the Atomic Age." "After a youth as a cowboy on the Canadian plains, Mormon missionary in Scotland, and law student at Columbia (while working for Tammany Hall), Judge McCarthy advanced from crusading district attorney to judge and banker. He then became one of the most powerful men in America as a director of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression. His crowning achievement would be the rescue of a legendary American railroad." "The halcyon days of railroads have passed, but the legend of the Denver & Rio Grande lives on. Crossing the Continental Divide, the storied line hauled away vast mineral wealth but had to survive various corporate incarnations, business and political machinations, and a record that for a time earned it the nickname "Dangerous and Rapidly Growing Worse." McCarthy gave the road's employees a stake in the company's success and made it into a "western railroad operated by western men.""--BOOK JACKET.