Southern Pacific locomotive 327 passes the signals in Tennessee Pass, Colorado, in this slide shot from the early 1990’s before Southern Pacific merged with Union Pacific.
According to the Southern Pacific History Center website, On February 1, 1997, Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Union Pacific Railroad were formally merged. Union Pacific was merged into SPTC and the name was simultaneously changed from SPTC to the new Union Pacific Railroad.
According to Wikipedia: Tennessee Pass elevation is 10,424 ft (3,177 m) and is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States. The pass was named after Tennessee, the native state of a group of early prospectors.
In 1996, UP bought Southern Pacific. UP preferred the Moffat Tunnel for routing traffic. The last revenue train went over the Tennessee Pass on August 23, 1997. Soon after UP ran this last train, UP applied to the Surface Transportation Board for permission to abandon the line.
The Royal Gorge Route Railroad currently offers scenic, tourist rail trips on 12 miles of the Tennessee Pass Line west of Cañon City. No freight has been shipped on the Tennessee Pass Line since 1997.
Union Pacific began actively discussing the sale of the line to Colorado Pacific in 2019, for an amount of $10 million. Colorado Pacific wanted to pay only the $8.8 million that the line was valued at. After a long battle in court, it was declared that they would not force a sale, but if other evidence was found, Colorado Pacific could re-file the report. As of October 2020, Colorado Pacific attempted another forced sale, this time saying they’ll run passenger/excursion service over the route. Union Pacific responded by stating they were in active negotiations for Rio Grande Pacific to operate the line and were opposed to Colorado Pacific’s bid. On December 31, 2020, Rio Grande Pacific subsidiary Colorado, Midland & Pacific Railway Company, announced it had entered in an agreement with Union Pacific to explore reopening, leasing and operating the line for both potential commuter and freight services.
Tech Info: Nikon F3 Film Camera, exposure not recorded.