Here is the backstory we came up with for the Central Rockies and Pacific RR:
The CRPR is a freelanced model railroad based on the southern Rockies segments of the Denver and Rio Grande. The railroad encompasses elements of Salida, the San Luis Valley, the San Juan Extension, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
In our world, the Rio Grande survived as an independent regional railroad, merging with the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific RR and establishing a connection at Santa Rosa, which enabled both entities to survive largely intact.
Here’s the story:
It’s a well-established fact that over the course of its history the Rio Grande, its predecessors and related business entities struggled to stay out of bankruptcy. Through the mid-60’s, railroads struggled to compete with the interstate highway system, declining revenues, and increasing costs. In this environment much attention was given to mergers and consolidations.
The Rio Grande had a unique set of challenges. Surrounded on all sides by larger transcontinental carriers, pressured by declining revenues and the exorbitant cost of operating a narrow-gauge steam-powered San Juan Extension, plus the line’s slow action in complying with the Safety Appliance Act, put the Rio Grande in a precarious position financially and competitively.
As the 60’s drug on, the merger of the Hill Lines began looking more and more like a reality every day. With the threat of BN on the horizon, all major class 1’s started looking for ways to grow by merging. SP was talking to UP. Milwaukee was talking to CNW and UP, both. Rock Island was looking for someone – anyone – to merge with. So was Rio Grande, but its unique operating environment and regional size make it unattractive to major carriers.
In 1967 Rio Grande and Rock Island began tentative negotiations to see if their combined network, with virtually no overlap, would make a good match. Rio Grande wanted access to a salt water port and Chicago. The Rock Island wanted to continue expanding West, having stalled its expansion at Santa Rosa NM. Access to the mineral-rich Rocky Mountains is attractive, as is Salt Lake City.
The two primary barriers to a fruitful union were:
1. Both railroads’ somewhat precarious financial position, and
2. Grades and congestion on the Front Range, making Rock Island’s route across eastern Colorado still useful, but not especially relevant in reaching further west.
For the Rock Island, the Moffat Route was a no-go due to congestion through the tunnel. Pueblo on the Royal Gorge Route was also a no-go due to grade, congestion, and curvature. The legendary LaVeta Pass is a non-starter for heavy traffic due to heavy grade and curvature. To their credit, the leadership of both DRG and CRIP came up with a clever solution: create a connection between the two railroads in New Mexico.
To make this plan a reality, the two railroads concoct a plan to establish a “paper merger” whereby each railroad will operate as its own sub-business within a singular corporation. Very quietly they form a separate business unit, the Central Rockies and Pacific RR.
The CRP’s first act is to try and “jump the gap” between Santa Fe NM and Santa Rosa NM. The DRG had, decades ago, shared yard space and built a station in cooperation with a small railroad called the New Mexico Central. The NMC historically operated south from Santa Fe down through the Estancia valley to a junction with the ATSF at Willard NM, and a connection with the SP at Torrence, NM. ATSF had acquired the CNM back near the turn of the century and slowly retreated south from Santa Fe, abandoning the railroad a little bit at a time. By the 60’s there wasn’t much left except a roadbed, a right-of-way, and a string of little towns drying up and blowing away.
With the knowledge that ATSF would likely abandon the last bit of NMC in the late 60’s or early 70’s, the CRP acquired the remaining section of the line, a 28 mile piece from Willard, NM north to Calvert, NM (Moriarty). The acquisition was made under the pretense of running a super-short short line to serve the only customer on that spur. ATSF was only too happy to sell the worthless line. With that transaction, the CRP became a common carrier, established itself as a railroad, set up shop in the Moriarty depot, and began operating one train per week down to Willard Junction to meet the Santa Fe. Soon thereafter the CRP (quietly) acquired the majority of the old NMC right of way north to Santa Fe.
While the CRP was worming its way into Willard and Santa Fe, the Rock Island undertook some surveying work west of Tucumcari. The pretense for this work was the re-starting of the long-dead Pacific Extension project, touted as the only way for the railroad to survive in that era of railroad mergers. The railroads were not in good financial condition during this era. 1964 was the last profitable year for the Rock Island. So most people dismissed this Right of Way project as dead-on-arrival and ignored the effort. What Rock Island did however was survey and acquire a 150-mile long strip of land from Tucumcari NM to a point intersecting the CRP at Estancia, NM.
With CNM then owning property into Santa Fe, a couple of quick real estate transactions took place.
The DRG purchased the property from Santa Fe to Moriarty from the CRP and began laying track. The CRP purchased the property from Estancia to Tucumcari and began laying track. Finally, the CRP, Rio Grande, and Rock Island filed to merge. This merger was approved by the ICC in 1967 with the following conditions:
The new entity would legally be the Central Rockies and Pacific Railroad Company.
Santa Fe, UP, and SP would all be granted rights to operate over the CRP to protect passenger service to Denver.
The application for abandonment of the San Juan Extension would be withdrawn and service to Animas Forks would be restored.
With the administrative consolidation of the Denver and Rio Grande completed under the CRP corporate entity, both railroads were free to begin exploiting opportunities on the combined property. Traffic increased with direct access to tidewater from the mining regions of the Colorado Rockies. Oil and Gas exploration resumed due to dramatically lowered transport costs to the gulf coast. And for the first time, a straight line could be drawn from Salt Lake City, south east to central Texas via Grand Junction, Salida, and then an easy slope down the San Luis Valley to Albuquerque. Both lines continued to operate their own crew districts and maintain their regional brands, with occasional power from one business unit or another showing up in odd places. With the formation of Amtrak in 1970 a huge surplus of passenger equipment hit the market at scrap prices. CRP took advantage of this opportunity to re-equip a lot of it’s local and intercity service, giving many of it’s trains a patchwork look and feel. A few named trains are matched but still carry the paint jobs of their predecessors.