The Rio Grande Southern Railroad was built to connect mining districts in southwestern Colorado with the Denver & Rio Grande network.
The route ran from Ridgway through mountain towns including Telluride and Rico toward Durango.
Construction through the San Juan Mountains required steep grades, sharp curves, trestles, and constant maintenance.
The railroad depended heavily on mining traffic, making its finances vulnerable to changes in ore production and metal prices.
Rio Grande Southern interchanged with the Denver & Rio Grande system but remained a separate company.
Declining traffic led the railroad to experiment with inexpensive self-propelled rail vehicles known as Galloping Geese.
The Geese combined automotive components with rail running gear to carry mail, passengers, and light freight more economically than a full steam train.
The railroad struggled through the Great Depression and World War II before finally ceasing operations in the early 1950s.
Significant pieces of route, equipment, bridges, and structures survive in museums and heritage sites.
For TransitSatellite, the RGS story should link railroad economics directly to vehicle innovation: the Galloping Geese existed because the railroad needed a cheaper way to serve sparse traffic.