Tennessee Pass Photo Album

The railroad passes the old mining town of Redcliff, which lies on the opposite side of a stream.  Even though the town is still occupied, we didn't see a soul.

Spectacular views from high on the north side of Tennessee Pass, which was, until its deactivation,

the highest mainline crossing in the United States.

U.S.Highway 24 crosses high above the railroad as the line enters Beldon Canyon.  The lower bridge is the road to Redcliff.

The line follows the Eagle River through Beldon Canyon, where  many rock slides now cover the rails.

One of many tunnels in the canyon.

Except for the summit tunnel, all were natural bores.

A roaring cascade crashes down from a side canyon deep into the heart of Beldon gorge.

The existance of modern block signalling was a constant reminder that this was not some backwoods railroad.  Many of the signals have been vandalized or completely removed.

Looking down from the highway into Beldon Canyon (upper left) a large abandoned mine can be seen in the lower right hand corner of the photo.  Once into the canyon, the emense size of the mining complex was mind boggling.  We could have spent many hours poking through the dozens of fascinating buildings.

Above, Dick can just be seen on the road across the the way, which is actually the railroad siding which  parallels the main line down other side of the river.   The long independent siding rejoins the main line just north of the mine,  and we were reunited with Dick after many miles of separation.

This was the biggest of the rocks we found on the track.  No superhuman efforts will be budging this one without

some assistance from a crane.

On the last miles into Minturn

thunder clouds threated but

the showers held off until we

were packed up and driving back to our base camp in Leadville.

Dick Smart

Peter Hoffman's