America's Classic Railroad Places

In reality, the line through the 1,7000 tunnel never served more than the local mining interests and became redundant when the silver deposits in the area played out.

The tunnel was in use for less than 30 years during which the route saw its share of tragedies—see the history section below. Though a daring project for its time, the tunnel was ultimately the wrong project at the wrong place. Tunnel ventilation technology had not advanced far enough to make its use by steam locomotives safe at all times and the line was built through an area covered by heavy snow much of the year.

Meanwhile in August of 1881, a branch of the Denver & Rio Grande reached nearby Gunnison, Colo., and in November of the same year, the tunnel was completed.

Between 1887 and 1889 and again between 1890 and 1894, the tunnel was closed during the winter.

In August of 1889, the Denver, South Park & Pacific went into receivership and re-emerged as the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison under control of the Union Pacific. That railroad in turn went into receivership in 1894.

1895 saw the tunnel's major disaster when four crew members suffocated during re-opening of the tunnel.

In 1899 the line became part of the Colorado & Southern, formed by the merger of several area railroads.

When the U.S. Forest Service was formed in 1905, one of its earliest stewardships was the Gunnison National Forest, which had earlier been designated as the Gunnison National Reserve.

The last train moved through the tunnel in November of 1910 and most of the rail on the line (with the exception of some rail within the tunnel) was removed by 1923.

In 1959 the former right of way was formally converted to a Forest Service road.

The Forest Service designated the right of way between Quartz and Hancock as the Alpine Tunnel Historic District in 1993 and began restoration work that year.

During 1995 and 1996, the district was placed on both the Colorado Register of Historic Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.

The Alpine Tunnel Historical District is normally open to the public from July to September. Visitors can follow a 10 mile tour on a narrow dirt road—mostly the former right of way—to the one-time Alpine Tunnel station complex.

(Outside the July-September window, the area is subject to extreme and severe weather, with large accumulations of snow.)

From just short of the station location, visitors have to walk to the partly-covered west portal. (The east portal has totally collapsed.) Some narrow gauge track has been re-laid in the Alpine Tunnel Station area and some structures have been reconstructed to provide a better indication of what this site once looked like.

To access to the historic district begin on U.S. 50 at either Salida or Gunnison and head toward the other town. The community of Parlin is about 12 miles east of Gunnison on U.S. 50.

At Parlin, turn north onto the secondary road to Pitkin. The historic district begins northeast of the town of Pitkin. at the junction of Cumberland Pass Road (FDR 765) and the Alpine Tunnel Road (FDR 839).

Accommodations are available at Salida and Gunnison, Colo., and some smaller towns in the area.

The Alpine Tunnel Historic Association can be contacted at P.O. Box 515, Gunnison, Colo., 81230; telephone (970) 641-5271. As of 1999, membership was $5 per year, or $50 lifetime.

Melrose has a runaway safety track at bottom of grade with the switch controlled by a timer. For descending trains, the track is lined for the runaway track until sufficient time for a safe descent has expired, after which the switch is automatically lined for through traffic.

Descending trains turn up retainers and stop at Melrose to turn the retainers down. (Retainers are a special braking feature which maintains some braking force even when the engineer releases the train bakes.)

Heavy ascending trains may need to double or triple the hill, leaving part of their train behind at Melrose for a second or third trip up the mountain. Freight trains operate with three or four person crews because of the amount of work involved—setting and resetting retainers for descending trains and switching involved in doubling or tripling the hill during an ascent.

From Interstate 26, take exit 28 into Saluda. The tracks go through the heart of the small town, which contains both a historic marker calling attention to the grade and an old depot.

To reach Melrose from Saluda, head east (downhill) on US highway 176 for approximately three miles, looking for a sign on the right for Pearson Falls Road. Turn right onto that road and follow it until you pass under the tracks. Turn left immediately past the tracks and park in a gravel area on the left at the point where the paved road turns away from the tracks. At that point, you are on a slight rise next to the runaway track.

Trains move at very slow speeds in both directions on the section between Saluda and Melrose, so it is possible to see or photograph the same train at both locations.

Traffic on this route is light—except during problems on one of the other NS routes into and out of Asheville, when trains are detoured over Saluda. Under normal conditions, expect many hours between trains.

News story: "Saluda Grade Cheats Death," Trains, November, 1994.

Feature article: "The day I met Saluda," Railfan & Railroad, April, 1999.