Fort Worth & Denver Discussion Group

[Doug A.]

All,

Just wanted to announce that I have started a Yahoo Group dedicated to the Fort Worth & Denver Railway. I invite any of you that are interested in the FW&D, the C&S, the Q, BN/BNSF, or any related railroad topic specific to the region to please join and contribute.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDenverRoad

For a little background, the Fort Worth & Denver, aka "The Denver Road" operated primarily in the North Central to West Texas/Panhandle region, but also reached into New Mexico and Colorado with sister road Colorado & Southern, (both subsidiaries of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad) and also to the Gulf of Mexico via a joint trackage operation with the Rock Island. The Fort Worth & Denver operated as a separate identity, if not entity, well into the 1980's under BN. Some BNSF railroaders still refer to the former FW&D lines as the "Fort Worth & Denver" still today.

Similar to many "regionals", the Fort Worth & Denver Railway is rich in history, operations, and personality. The transition era FW&D was unique in that they were among the first railroads to begin to dieselize, but among the last to continue running steam in the end. The Q/BN subsidiary FW&D (along with the C&S) became one of the first major "coal arteries" hauling coal out of the Powder River Basin into Texas. That, along with the Houston to Pacific Northwest link, combined to solidify the FW&D's role in modern railroading, although now under the flag of the BNSF Railway.

Well, I hope to see ya'll there. Thanks!

Doug A.

[HemiAdda2d]

Cool!
I just may have to check it out!

[Stourbridge Lion]

How far into Colorado did it get?

[Doug A.]

Originally posted by Stourbridge Lion:
How far into Colorado did it get? Technically, it didn't. Except for very early on in the history of the two railroads, the Fort Worth & Denver and the Colorado & Southern acted very much like a singular railroad, at least from a business perspective, and as subsidiaries of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy enjoyed economies of scale from that association as well.

So, the FW&D handed off the reigns to the Colorado & Southern at Sixela on the Texas-New Mexico border. The C&S went from Sixela to Denver, including trackage rights on the ATSF/DRGW "Joint Line".

Having said all that, there was a brief point in history after the creation of the Burlington Northern (and after the Frisco merger as well) that control of the ENTIRE line from Houston to Denver was designated as the "Fort Worth & Denver". I don't know the exact story on this but it was related to corporate legal mumbo-jumbo more than anything from what I understand. My understanding is that this arrangement was for the last year of the FW&D's existance in 1982, so it was basically prep-work for folding the FW&D and C&S into the BN for good.

[Stourbridge Lion]

Reminds me hearing of some Fallen Flags back east that used Pacific in their name just to make you think they went west to the Pacific but never did.

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So, what did the FW&D (The Denver Road) use for a Logo? ANy images you can share with us here?

[Doug A.]

http://www.railimages.com/albums/dougandreasen/acm.jpg

[Doug A.]

And just for grins, here is my "hybrid" logo for my modern BNSF-era N-Scale "Denver Road".

http://www.railimages.com/albums/dougandreasen/ack.jpg

[Stourbridge Lion]

:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: