Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad  


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The DSP&PRR is the highest 7 1/2 inch guage railroad in the world at an elevation of 9,200 feet above sea level.

The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad is a 7 1/2" gauge railroad located in the beautiful South Park area west of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The railroad is currently under construction with a planned mainline of over 8,000 ft of track. The minimum radius is 75 feet with a maximum grade of 3.5%. The topography of the area is rolling hills with approximately 30% coverage in Ponderosa Pine. Typically we are laying track on Saturdays late April thru late November. Construction trains are running out to the ever advancing railhead carrying track and cross ties.

The railroad is divided into the Northern and Southern divisions. The Southern Division is completed with over 4,330 ft of mainline track laid in place. On the Northern Division we have recently completed the track out to and around Little Mountain adding another 1,600 ft of track bringing the mainline length to over 6,000 ft or 12,000 ft round trip. Halfway out to Little Mountain is the Boreas Pass Wye which allows trains to be turned or by-passed. Click on the Track Plan button on the left to see the track diagram.

We have an electric unloading device capable of handling a Northern locomotive. The 20 ft turntable with 7 steaming bays is installed and is operable. The yard has four 60 ft long tracks so there is ample parking for many trains. Additionally two swinging gate bridges are in place and operable. See Contacts on this webpage for info on how to contact us. All railroad fans are welcome to come and run their engines. Due to the extreme fire danger only propane steamers are allowed. Diesels and electrics are welcome.



<-- NEWS -->
November 8, 2024 Well the snow is falling and winter has arrived. We had a great Fall Meet with 4 steamers and 4 diesels running. Debbie and Martin Hrabe put on a fantastic potluck dinner at their beautiful, newly completed home 1/2 mile from the railroad. All the railroaders really chowed down and enjoyed it. Debbie and Martin want to make this a part of future meets. The weather was great and the Aspen trees had turned gold. We had Live Steamers come from Amarillo, TX and Brownwood, TX and Milliken, CO, and Durango, CO and Phoenix, AZ. We are finishing roadbed grading on the Northern Division and getting the Sweet Creek loco ready to go to the MLS Phoenix January meet. Also got all registered to go to the Train Mountain Triennial Meet next June. As Ed Sullivan would say, "That is going to be a really big shoe!".

August 3, 2024 This has been a very busy year for the DSP&PRR. We had a great meet in June with 3 steamers and 2 diesels running trains. Bridge 1 was completed and open for trains. The main beams for Bridge 2 have been set and work is progressing on it. We have installed a large ballast tipple for ballasting operations. A BIG thanks to Seth Milam for the ballast tipple and the beams for Bridge 2. The 2-6-2 Sweet Creek praire is almost finished and hope to have it out at Train Mountain next month for the September Big Build Meet. Also we will be having our September Meet the weekend of September 28. Photos can be seen on Facebook in the group Backyard Railroading post on July 27.

October 29, 2023 This has been a very, very busy year for the DSP&PRR. We have poured concrete foundations and set steel for the 3 Northern Division bridges, relaid and re-ballasted a lot of track, had train meets in June and September. Click on the photo index on this page to see the meet photos and bridge construction photos. This month we are moving dirt and grading ROW for track laying next spring. We will continue work till the November snows stop work for the year. Additionally, a Live Steamer has purchased a 40 acre tract adjacent to the DSP&PRR property. He will be connecting his railroad, probably named the Colorado Midland Railroad, to the DSP&PRR at the Boreas Pass Wye. Together these two railroads will be 2 to 3 miles in track length... quite a railroad. As his property is uphill from the South Park, his railroad will become the World's Highest 7 1/2 inch Gauge Railroad and the South Park will be the second highest. Also noteworthy of mention is that the World's Third Highest 7 1/2 inch Gauge Railroad, the Razorback Ridge and Pacific Railroad, is under construction just a few miles away by the Man of Stiehl.

Sept 24, 2022 Had a great fall meet with 15 locos running. 5 were steamers: Bruce Siebold of Texas, Russ Kepler of Albuquerque, Chris Thistlewaite of Colorado Springs, Phillip Nilsson of Durango and Woody Lewis of Colorado Springs, Diesel guys: Bob Leise, Kirk, Dale, Martin Hrabe, Tom Crawford, Jim Bruneau, Lowell and Linda Dietz, Phillip Nilsson and Darrell Arndt. The weather was nice and cool with deep blue skys and gold aspen trees. A good time was had by all.

July 10, 2022 Just back from the Train Mountain Triennial and started summer trackwork improvements on the railroad. Also took the new Sweet Creek steamer out to the Triennial and it ran really well. Put over 60 actual miles on it.

Feb 1, 2022 It is now deep winter and the rairoad is under a blanket of snow. April is coming and tracklaying will resume.

Sept 31, 2021 We had a great September meet. The weather was beautiful and there were 7 trains running. The new yard was used by several trains and was a welcome feature for temp train parking. There are 3 new videos showing train operation on the railroad. You will really enjoy watching these. Click on the Video Index button on this page to view these.

Aug 7, 2021 The yard tracks are now completed. There are four 60 ft long tracks. Click on Photo Index on this page then click on Yard Tracks.

July 31, 2021 Work is well underway on the yard tracks and they will be completed next week.

May 8, 2021 Work has started on the yard tracks. Grading is well on the way. Rail has been bought, delievered and cut into lengths to fabricate for the yard switches. We are now fabricating 5 switches, one of which will go to the Larkspur Consolidated Railroad.

Nov 1, 2020 Tom, Bob, Bill and Woody have concreted in four new steaming bays. We now have a total of 7 steaming bays.

Sept 26, 2020 The September meet was great! We had 9 trains running and each engineer took a turn as the radio dispatcher. Engineers bringing their trains: Bill, Russ, Seth, Paul, Don, Phillip, Tom, Rick and Woody. Lots of RV campers and visitors. We had a delicious BBQ with lots of desserts. The day was clear and cool. Everyone had a great time! To see the photos, click on Photos on this page then click on 2020 Meet Photos.

June 27, 2020 We had a tremendous meet this weekend. Quite a turnout of trains and visitors making for a very busy railroad. Engineers bringing their trains: Bill Z., Bob L. Dale, Pete, Lowell, Linda, Jim B., Tom C., Seth, Phillip, Russ and Woody. Special thanks for dispatching work to George H., and Kirk. Our next meet will be the fourth Saturday in September the 26th. All railfans are welcome.

May 9, 2020 Last week the loop around Little Mountain was completed. Now we are running ballast trains and working on getting the loop all ballasted. See Track Plan to view track alignment diagram.

April 17, 2020 Almost all of the snow is now gone. The ground has dried out fairly well. We have laid another 80 ft of mainline, fabricated and laid the turnout going from Little Mountain down to Como. Just 70 ft remains to complete the loop around Little Mountain, then ballast trains can start running.

April 3, 2020 Only snows on the north slopes remain although it is a bit muddy now with the snowmelt. We are able to get around pretty good using 4 wheel drive. We are presently working on the next 100 ft segment of mainline.

March 15, 2020 The snows have about half way melted now. The south slope of Little Mountain is snow free and we have laid another 100ft of mainline. Work is now resuming on the railroad after some good winter snows.

Dec 11, 2019, The winter snows have come and we are now shut down till Spring. This has been a good year and we have laid about 1,000 ft of track. The Argentine siding was completed and mainline track was laid all the way out to and almost around Little Mountain. We have just 150 ft of track left to complete the loop around Little Mountain. That will be completed in the Spring giving over 6,000 ft of track which will be over 12,000 ft round trip. See Photos Index for photos of 2019 progress. See Track Plan to view track alignment diagram.

Oct 9, 2019, Working is progressing well on the loop around Little Mountain(see Track Plan). The fine grading has been completed all the way around. Another 100 ft of track has been laid, leaving 450 ft left to go to complete the loop. Cool, clear fall weather is helping the effort.

Sept 28, 2019, We had a great Anual Run Day this year... had 11 trains running, radio dispatched running point-to-point all the way out to Little Mountain. Thanks to the Man of Stiehl and Lowell for doing the radio dispatching. Running their trains were Tom, Jim, Phillip, Matt, Seth, Bill Z., Bob L. Kirk(Al Unser, Jr.), Dale, Pete and Lowell. Mary Lou was on the railbike.

July 24, 2019, The Little Mountain Wye turnout has been laid and we are now laying track around Little Mountain. Click on Track Plan on this page.

June 26, 2019, We are making good progress on laying track and hope to be within 50 ft of the Little Mountain Wye by the 4th of July.

May 21, 2019, Tracking laying has resumed in full force and we have laid the first 120 ft of the season. Both legs of the Argentine siding are now complete.

May 3, 2019, All the snow is now gone and fine grading is almost complete for the next 200 ft on the Northern Division.

April 15, 2019, The winter snows have almost melted off but some are left on the north slopes and tree shadows. We are now back at work fine grading the roadbed on the Northern Division in the sunny areas where the ground has thawed.

November 21, 2018, We have laid 400 ft of track out on the Northern Division and have finished one leg of the Argentine siding. Rough grading has been completed out to and around Little Mountain so come next Spring we will be ready to fine grade and lay track. About 1,260 ft of track is to be laid out to and around Little Mountain. When in place this will give us 6,000 ft of mainline running... 12,000 ft round trip. The mountain views from the Little Mountain loop will be magnificent. Right now accumulating snow and freezing ground has shut us down till Spring.

September 29, 2018, We had a great train meet with a great turnout. 8 trains were running on the railroad and the dispatcher was busy coordinating train traffic. For photos see --> Photo Index/2018 Train Meet.

September 7, 2018, The first 120 feet has been laid on the Northern Division and is ready for the September 29th meet.

July 21, 2018, The Peabody tie siding rework has been completed for the September 29th meet to provide additional space for trains.

June 7, 2018, Recuperation of knee surgery is slooow... physcial therapy is pretty painful but coming along well.

April 27, 2018, Going in for knee replacement surgery. Will resume work after healing up.

April 15, 2018, Little snow is left after a modrately dry winter so finish grading has resumed on the Northern Division. 60 feet of rail has been welded up and moved to the end of track as well as loose 20ft lenghts of track. This is in preparation for laying the first 100 ft on the Northern Division.

August 15, 2017, It has rained every due this month of August with chances of rain running 70% to 90% every day. The ground is wet so no progress has been made on the Northern Division.

July 3, 2017, The Peabodys Siding has been completed and is fully operational. This will help alleviate traffic congestion on the mainline. The siding is 100 ft long and will be able to acomodate two or three trains at one time. See Photo Index / Peabodys Siding and the Video Index for photos.

May 29, 2017, This past week the entire alignment for Phase 1 of the Northern Division has been rough graded. Also, the Peabodys siding has been elevated a foot or so and widened for two tracks. Much additional miscellaneous grading work has also been completed. You sure can do a lot with 7 days use of a skid loader. See Photo Index / Northern Division Phase 1 for photos.

April 12, 2017, The GandyDancers have been out in full force grading the first 300 ft on Phase 1 of the Northern Division. We have finished grading almost all the way to the second big ravine and it is now track ready. Plans are to rent a skid loader for a full week in May and rough grade the rest of Phase 1 all the way out to and around Knob Hill. Once that is done finish grading will start and we are shooting to get it all track ready with several hundred feet of track laid this year. See Photo Index / Northern Division Phase 1 for photos.

March 18, 2017, With all the warm weather we have been having the past few weeks, most of the snow has melted off and the ground has thawed making conditions favorable to resume construction on the Northern Division. Today the brick wall was laid at the first ravine and about 50 ft of grading was completed on the Northern Division. With 3 more work days we will be at the big ravine where a 25 ft bridge will be built. Also, the track alignment was surveyed out around Knob Hill which will be the farthest out point on the railroad. This will increase the length of the railroad to about 7,500 ft in one direction (about 15,000 ft round trip). It was good to be out and back at work on the DSP&PRR.

December 3, 2016, The first snow has fallen and now the ground is frozen. So construction work has ended for the season until next Spring. We are still able to run trains. Energies are now directed to the garage to continue work on the 3 3/4 inch narrow guage Sweet Creek.

November 23, 2016, Our illustrious president Jay Gould has authorized construction of the Northern Division. We are now working in earnest on the Northern Division. Work has started on the north end of the Boreas Pass Wye and is progressing northward. This will add about 3,500 ft of mainline to the already existing 4,330 ft and will be quite a fun and scenic railroad to run on.

October 8, 2016, We had a great turnout at our Fall Run Day. It was clear and sunny and the air slightly cool. We had 5 engines running one of which was an OS Mogul which pulled the grades pretty well. On the 4400 ft route we used family radios for train dispatching and it worked really well. A lot of folks had great train rides while viewing the beautiful vistas along the route.

September 23, 2016, We have laid over 500 feet of ribbon rail similiar to what the 12 inch to the foot guys use. While down at the Maricopa club down in Phoenix last January, we saw them using ribbon rail... they were welding their steel profile rail into 150 to 200 ft lengths and using them on the straights and curves with success. This was eliminating rail joints where kinking occured. So we decided to use ribbon rail on the DSP & PRR for the same reasons. We have started using it on the new siding down on the south meadow and from there to the Como Wye. Plans are to use it for new construction on the Northern Division in 100 ft to 120 ft lengths. See Photo Index / Ribbon Rail for photos.

February 20, 2016, We fabricated 4 new turnouts... 2 left and 2 right. We now have enough turnouts for two passing sidings on the Southern Division and one on the Northern Division. See Photo Index / Turnouts for photos.

On November 9, 2015, We hauled 25 car loads of ballast using the bottom dumping, self-spreading ballast cars. They worked really well. Probably 6 tons of ballast. See them in the videos at --> Video Index