Tennessee Pass (Colorado)
| Tennessee Pass | |
|---|---|
 Summit of Tennessee Pass along U.S. Highway 24, showing the memorial to the 10th Mountain Division |
|
| Elevation | 10,424 ft (3,177 m) [1] |
| Traversed by |  US 24Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad |
| Location | |
| Location | Eagle / Lake counties, Colorado, USA |
| Range | Sawatch Range |
| Coordinates | 39°19′17″N 106°18′40″W / 39.32139°N 106.31111°WCoordinates: 39°19′17″N 106°18′40″W / 39.32139°N 106.31111°W |
| Topo map | USGS Leadville North |
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Tennessee Pass elevation 10,424 ft (3,177 m) is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States.
The pass traverses the continental divide north of Leadville in a gap between the northern end of the Sawatch Range to the west and the northern end of the Mosquito Range to the east. It connects the headwaters of the Arkansas River to the south with the upper valley of the Eagle River (in the watershed of the Colorado River) to the north. The pass is traversed by U.S. Highway 24, allowing access between Leadville and Interstate 70 in the Eagle Valley. The pass has a gentle approach on both sides with few steep gradients and no major hairpin curves. The summit of the pass is nearly level. The road over the pass is generally open all year round, easily negotiable by most vehicles, and closes only during severe winter storms.
The summit of the pass is the location of Ski Cooper, a ski area in the San Isabel National Forest operated by permit from the United States Forest Service. Most of the area is above the tree line, providing a panoramic view of the peaks of the Sawatch Range to visitors. The area was formerly a World War II training ground for United States Army troops of the 10th Mountain Division from nearby Camp Hale. A memorial to troops of the division is located at the summit of the pass.
[edit] Railroad line
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad constructed a narrow gauge railroad over Tennessee Pass in 1881 as part of their extension to the Aspen area to beat the Colorado Midland Standard Gauge route to the rich mining area. In 1890, a new standard gauge line was built from Pueblo, to Grand Junction, and jointly with the Colorado Midland Railway, a tunnel was constructed about 200 ft (60 m) below the summit. In 1945, the old Tennessee Pass Tunnel was replaced by a newer tunnel. In recent times, the Rio Grande's Tennessee Pass line was the highest mainline railroad mountain pass in the United States. The line, now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, is currently embargoed (the tracks are out of service but still in place).
Once the Moffat Tunnel and Dotsero Cutoff were constructed the the Tennessee Pass subdivision became a secondary route. The Moffat Tunnell route had a maximum grade of 2%. The west side of the Tennessee Pass route has grades up to 3%. However, the east side of the Tennessee Pass has a maximum grade of only 1.4%.
When the Rio Grande merged into the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1988 the Tennessee Pass route once again became the preferred Trans-Continental route. The Southern Pacific now had a central route from California through to Kansas via Donner Pass, Tennessee Pass and trackage rights on the former MoPac route from Pueblo, Colorado into Kansas. The Moffat Tunnel route was still kept in use.
In 1996, the Union Pacific Railroad bought the Southern Pacific. The Union Pacific preferred other route for routing traffic. The last train went over the Tennessee Pass in 1997. Soon after Union Pacific ran this last train, they applied to the STB for permission to abandon the line. They pulled that application to head off the risk of being forced to sell it to another competitor[citation needed].
Currently the line is not of much use to the UP as the former Mopac line to Pueblo, Colorado has been partially abandoned so trains would have to travel from Denver, Colorado down to Pueblo, Colorado before they can head west, making the route seem to be more of use to BNSF. However, it must also be taken into account that the Moffat Tunnel can only handle around 25 trains a day and has been operating at near capacity with increased coal traffic, which could turn the Tennessee Pass tracks into a supplementary route. In 2007, Union Pacific ran a ballast train onto the disused section of the line near Avon, Colorado but apart from the odd hi-rail inspections of parts of the line there is no sign of a re-opening of the Tennessee Pass line as a through route.
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As a result of the UP/SP merger, the UP gained rights over the BNSF from Pueblo, through LaJunta and on to Texas on the old Santa Fe line. This is primarily a coal route so the use of Tennessee Pass would eliminate UP coal trains that originate in western Colorado from going to Denver and then south to Pueblo. This may be one reason the UP does not abandon the line as modern day distributed locomotive power would make the pass easier to operate with high tonnage coal trains. The BNSF has not generated a lot of traffic on the Moffat line into Utah and beyond so the value of the pass is probably with the UP.
