The Denver Rock Island Railroad , formerly known as the Denver Terminal Railroad, is a Class III

terminal railroad A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It genera ...

Commerce City, Colorado The City of Commerce City is a home rule municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 62,418 at the 2020 United States Census, a 35.95% increase since the 2010 United States Census. Commerce City is the ...

. The DRIR works around Denver's stock yards and many industries in that area.

History

In June 2005, the Denver Rock Island Railroad filed with the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...

a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.41 to acquire from

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and operate rail lines commonly known as the Stock Yard Lead and the North Washington Industrial Track in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and Adams Counties,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. The Stock Yard Lead consists of track extending from a point of connection with a UP main line north of East 58th Avenue in unincorporated Adams County to a point of connection with existing DRIR trackage at or near Race Court in the City of Denver, Denver County, a distance of 5,750 feet, or 1.09 miles. The North Washington Industrial Track extends north from the UP beltline industrial lead to serve several warehouses in the lumber industry. This line contains both a wye and half a block of street running on 67th Avenue.

Equipment

The DRIR has two SW1500

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s, two NW2 locomotives, one SW1 locomotive and one

EMD GP16 The EMD GP16 are a series of rebuilt diesel-electric locomotives, a result of a remanufacturing program initiated by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) in an effort to spare the cost of purchasing new motive power in the late 1970s. This in ...

locomotive. The locomotive fleet has a varied history. DRIR 417 (NW2) is ex BN 417 and was originally SLSF ( Frisco) 257. DRIR 1211 (SW1500) is ex-UPY (

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

) 1211, exx-SP (

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

) 2646. Purchased from UP on April 22, 2003. DRIR 1083 (SW1500), ex-UPY 1083, exx-SP 2480, which was also purchased from UP on April 22, 2003. DRIR 996 (NW2) which is ex-BN (

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

) 419, exx-SLSF 259. DRIR's SW1, with no number, was ex-BN 88 and originally CB&Q 9143 In May 2010 the railroad acquired GP16 1606. This engine was previously on the Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railroad with the same number and before that was CSX 1835 ex Seaboard Coastline 4789. SCL 4789 was rebuilt from GP7 867 and was originally Charleston and Western Carolina 213

References

External links

Denver Rock Island Railroad website
Colorado railroads Companies based in Colorado Commerce City, Colorado Transportation in Adams County, Colorado Transportation in Denver Switching and terminal railroads {{Colorado-transport-stub