The ''Prospector'' was a passenger train operated by the

Denver & Rio Grande Western The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from De ...

railroad between

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. There were two incarnations of the train: a streamlined,

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are als ...

train that operated briefly in 1941 and 1942; and a locomotive-hauled train of conventional passenger equipment that operated from 1945 until 1967.

The 1941–1942 ''Prospector''

The train was inaugurated November 17, 1941. The original equipment was a pair of Budd Company-built

trains numbered M-1 and M-2. For the inaugural trip in 1941, the railroad made stainless steel pass holders that were intended to be distributed to passengers. The holder was engraved with a line drawing of the train on the outside. On the inside were two cards: one with an embossed picture of a

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

and mule in

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, the other with a message reading: The holders were not distributed as intended to passengers. The trainsets had significant reliability problems exacerbated by difficult terrain and the train was discontinued July 5, 1942. The trainsets were returned to Budd and ultimately scrapped.

The Postwar ''Prospector''

Anticipating increases in overnight Denver-Salt Lake City rail passenger traffic after the end of World War II, the Rio Grande restored the ''Prospector'' on October 1, 1945 using conventional heavyweight equipment. The railroad also began planning the acquisition of new lightweight equipment for the train. In 1949 it purchased three dome-observation cars built by Budd, and in 1950 it took delivery of 25

Pullman-Standard The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century ...

cars — equipment that had been ordered by the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond ...

, but never used by that railroad. The Pullman-Standard cars began service on the ''Prospector'' in late 1950, whereas the Budd dome cars generally served on the ''Royal Gorge'' (see below) and therefore only appeared on the ''Prospector'' west of

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

. In response to a coal miners' strike, in 1950 the Rio Grande began combining the ''Prospector'' and the railroad's ''Royal Gorge'' train west of Grand Junction. This combined operation continued until 1964 when ''Royal Gorge'' service was cut back to Salida, Colorado. Between 1950 and 1953 the train's western terminus was extended from Salt Lake City to

Ogden Ogden may refer to: Places Canada *Ogden, Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta *Ogden, Quebec, a small municipality in the Eastern Townships * Ogdensville, British Columbia or Ogden City, alternate names for gold rush-era Seymour Arm, British Columbia *Og ...

. Between 1964 and 1967 the railroad occasionally attached flatcars carrying highway vans — piggyback cars — to the rear of the ''Prospector'', a relatively rare combination of passenger and freight service in the same train. The ''Prospector'' made its final runs on May 28, 1967.

References

*Davis, Michael B. "Prospector: The Judge's Train." ''Colorado Rail Annual Number Nine.'' Golden, Colorado: Colorado Railroad Museum, 1971. . * Eager, Jim ''Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment'' 1996. * Griffin, James ''Rio Grande Railroad'' 2003. * Thode, Jackson C. ''A Century of Passenger Trains... And Then Some'' 1972. {{DRGW named trains Passenger trains of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Railway services introduced in 1941 Railway services discontinued in 1967 Budd Company