Narrow Gauge in the Rockies

by Lucius Beebe, Charles Clegg

1993 reprint of the classic Beebe and Clegg "Narrow Gauge in the Rockies." The book provides an overview of the six major Rocky Mountain narrow gauge railroads (the Denver & Rio Grande, Otto Mears short lines, the Denver, South Park & Pacific, the Florence & Cripple Creek, the Uintah and the Rio Grande Southern) augmented with a matchless album of photographs by masters such as William H. Jackson, L. C. McClure, Richard Kindig, Gerald Best, Jackson Thode, Jim Shaughnessy, Richard B. Jackson, Otto Perry, John Maxwell, Fred Jukes and with paintings by Howard Fogg and end paper map Frederic Shaw. Photos show steam locomotives in action as well as freight and passenger trains, stations, track facilities and equipment. The photos have detailed captions that paint a vivid portrait of life along the narrow gauge lines, covering topics as varied as wrecks, snow removal, railroad town hotels, the covered turntable at Corkscrew Gulch and the Alamosa depot fire of 1912. Includes scale drawings of a D&RG C-16, the D&RGW parlor-buffet cars Alamosa, Chama and Durango, and of the Rio Grande Southern business car Edna. With maps. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos and several color plates. With decorative end papers showing map of Colorado railroads. 224 pages.

Genres: Railways, Nonfiction, Railway History, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Wayne Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good subject material and great photos but the writing is so forcefully effete it is difficult to follow without re-reading or falling asleep. The only clear passage in the whole text was a page long quote of Bruce Catton's experience getting caught by a train while on a trestle.

[Douglas E Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this a number of times and I have loved every word. Beebe writes in a delightful Victorian prose so keep your thesaurus handy! His description of his travels around the Narrow Gauge Circle in Colorado in the twilight of the mining era made me long to be there with him as he and co-author Charles Clegg traveled around the state (literally AND figuratively) on three foot rails pulled by little more than a teapot with wheels.

Every time I read this I realize that I was born 57 years too late

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you enjoy the hardware of railroading, this is your book.