Known railroads and their operations for Colorado are listed here. Subdivisions that cross state lines will only contain information and GPS ranges to approximately the state line to prevent unnecessary overlap.
Due to operational changes, mergers and general changes, some railroad radio channels may be reused by the same or adjacent railroads. However, if using RadioReference aware scanners or software, you can reduce seeing or duplicating this information by scanning just the subdivisions or locations that you are interested in.
Railroads are listed by size starting with the largest and ending with historical/tourist operations and in alphabetical order.
Passenger operations can be heard on the respective railroad they are operating on unless passenger stations have specific radio assignments.
Short alpha names are comprised of the railroads AAR reporting mark, AAR channel number and subdivision or major use function. The description field will contain actual use or location information to provide the best possible information for various scanners, users and readability.
Traveling system gangs (Maintenance of Way) will use the area road channel for track authority and for the foreman to grant trains through the work limits. These gangs will typically use their own channels - and such channels should not be submitted to the database as they are only temporary for the area. Signal, communications and other engineering groups will typically only be on the road channel, but may use any other as needs warrant.
Denver Yards - North Yard and 36th Street Yard Trains into and out of the Denver complex to various subdivisions can be heard on these channels until they are on their respective subdivisions
MP 118 (Pueblo Junction) to MP 341 (Dotsero). Main track is out of service between MP 171 (Parkdale) and MP 335 (Gypsum). UP operates over the Royal Gorge Route Railroad between Canon City and Parkdale
Amtrak Southwest Chief (Train 3/4) operates on the BNSF La Junta & Raton Subdivsions
Amtrak California Zephyr (Train 5/6) operates:
East of Denver on the BNSF Akron & Brush Subdivisions
West of Denver on the UP Moffat & Green River Subdivisions
(If rerouted through Wyoming: UP Greeley Sub in Colorado and Laramie, Rawlins and Evanston Subs in Wyoming)
The Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 2 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates seasonal tourist trains between Cripple Creek and the city's outskirts to the south. The railroad uses a revitalized section of the original Midland Terminal Railway and the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad.
The Denver and Rock Island Railway is located in Commerce City and provides switching services from three yards: North Washington Park, Stockyards, and Airlawn
The Deseret Power Railroad exists only to transport coal from the co-operative's Deserado Coal Mine located northeast of Rangely, Colorado and south of Dinosaur, Colorado to their 400 MW Bonanza Power Plant located northwest of Bonanza, Utah. It has no connection to any other railroad. The power plant is located at MP 34
The Great Western Railway operates in Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, Kelim and Milliken. The railroad comprises of the Longmont Subdivision, Greely Subdivision and the Loveland Branch. Channel 3 (BNSF 070) and Channel 4 (UP 069) are used when needed to cross those railroads
MP 160 (East Canon City) to MP 172 (West Parkdale/Trailhead). Royal Gorge Railroad and Rock & Rail Railroad operate jointly. There is a repeater that may be used that repeats transmissions from channel 32
The San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad operates 154 miles of former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks on three lines radiating from Alamosa, Colorado over La Veta Pass to BNSF main line track at the UP Walsenburg Sub. Until it's bankruptcy in 2019, the SLRG also operated the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad from Alamosa to La Veta. It is currently unknown when, if ever, this scenic line might resume.
SLC owns and operates a 13-mile railroad line between Center, Colorado and Monte Vista, Colorado. The SLC connects with the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad at the Sugar Junction in Monte Vista. SLC owns or leases 149 railcars used for transportation of various commodities. SLRG moves loaded SLC cars approximately 92 miles to connect with BNSF main line track at the UP Walsenburg Sub.
Trinidad Railway owns the line between Jansen and New Elk Mine. UP and BNSF trains may be found on this line, however the mine is currently in out of service/low production as of 2015
Frequency
License
Type
Tone
Alpha Tag
Description
Mode
Tag
161.250
BM
CSQ
TRI76 Road
Jansen to New Elk Mine
FMN
Railroad
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