Saddled with two rugged mountain crossings, of the Rockies in Colorado and the Wasatch in Utah, the Rio Grande developed an operational philosophy to be competitive with less strenuous east-west routes. Most non-commodity (coal, ore) consists were kept short, and were given more power than many other roads’ motive power desks would allot. Here an eastbound TOFC train demonstrates that philosophy as it races across the desert at Floy, Utah.
