Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad—usually the Rio Grande, D&RGW, or DRGW—was the Denver-based mountain railroad that made railroading look unnecessarily dramatic in the best possible way. The company formally emerged in 1921 as successor to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad system, whose roots reached back to William Jackson Palmer’s 1870 narrow-gauge venture.

Its routes crossed Colorado, Utah, and beyond through Royal Gorge, Tennessee Pass, Soldier Summit, and other terrain that seemed personally offended by the idea of a railroad. The Rio Grande developed a reputation for hard-running freight service and spectacular mountain operations, then reorganized after bankruptcy on April 11, 1947.

In 1970, the railroad became part of Denver-based Rio Grande Industries. That parent bought Southern Pacific Transportation Company in 1988; the bigger Southern Pacific name became the operating identity, and D&RGW operations were consolidated under the Southern Pacific banner in 1992. A classic case of the smaller railroad buying the bigger hat, then wearing the bigger hat.

Union Pacific gained control of the combined Southern Pacific system on September 11, 1996. The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad formally ceased to exist as a corporate entity on June 30, 1997, though much of its former route network remained in use.

Our Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad collection celebrates black-and-gold mountain muscle, improbable grades, and the stubbornly magnificent railroad that refused to take the easy way west.