Google search a little history of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. The Durango narrow gauge never used Rockwood station other than as a coal stop or turning wye and maintenance. The town of Rockwood pre-dates the narrow gauge tracks.
Why? No one but a few cowboys lived near there. Not until Tamarron and Rockwood estates were developed in the late ’70s was there any population to speak of. Yes, the train is part of Durango and Colorado history, and it has been part of the infrastructure and integral to the town of Durango with a permanent train station and passenger disembarkation point for all its history.
Now arbitrarily, without due process, evaluation or concern for any aspect of heavy commercial traffic flow, the train realized that profit is better if they run 600 cars a day down an undersized, worn out, taxpayer-owned County Road 200. No parking like in town, no police or fire service like in town, no trash or maintenance like in town, no nothing but the residents of the community, desiccated forest, wildlife and what once was a quiet rural neighborhood.
Not a good mix any way you look at it. Would La Plata County allow a Disneyworld plopped next to Edgemont Highlands without at least a review? Hell, no. So why did they not review and process the train’s move to Rockwood? Florida dollars too big to stand up to, perhaps?
Brian D. LangeDurango
