Shavano (train)
 Last run of the Shavano, 1940. Photo by Otto Perry. |
The Shavano was a named passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad between Salida and Gunnison, Colorado. The train, named for nearby Mount Shavano, operated over the railroad's historic narrow gauge route over Marshall Pass. The Shavano operated as Train #315 westbound (to Gunnison), and #316 eastbound (to Salida).
The original east-west main line of the Denver & Rio Grande, constructed in the 1870s and 1880s, was built as a narrow-gauge railroad, with the rails spaced three feet apart. The line ran from Denver south to Pueblo, and then turned west through the Royal Gorge to Salida. The route then continued over Marshall Pass to Gunnison, Montrose, and Grand Junction, before entering Utah and proceeding to Salt Lake City and Ogden. This existed as a through route only until 1890, when the main line was standard-gauged. The standard gauge route headed north from Salida via Tennessee Pass, rejoining the original narrow-gauge route at Grand Junction. This left the old narrow-gauge line over Marshall Pass as a local route. Narrow-gauge trains operated between Salida and Grand Junction until the Montrose-Grand Junction tracks were standard-gauged in 1906, truncating the narrow-gauge line to a Salida-Montrose route.
Narrow-gauge trains 315 and 316, carrying coaches and a parlor car, operated between Salida and Montrose until August 1936, when the Gunnison-Montrose portion of the route was discontinued. That autumn, however, the Rio Grande decided to upgrade its remaining narrow-gauge passenger trains, and renovated 38 passenger cars for use on its Salida-Montrose and Alamosa-Durango routes. The refurbishment included the addition of enclosed vestibules, the installation of electric lights and steam heating, and new interior seats and fixtures. The finished cars were perhaps the most comfortable and well-appointed narrow-gauge equipment in the United States.
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