Celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the San Luis Central, the railroad operated a special passenger train on the 13-mile line from Monte Vista to Center in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. The railroad only owned one steam locomotive early in its history, a Baldwin 2-8-0 numbered 1, that was bought new in 1913 and retired in 1955. To help with celebrations, San Luis and Rio Grande relettered and renumbered their 2-8-0 No. 18, to SLC No. 1, that pulled the train on September 1, 2013. In this view framed with a center-pivot irrigation line, the 5-car passenger train approaches the end of the line at Center, Colorado, in the vastness of the San Luis Valley. These irrigation and water canal systems allow farmers to transform the high Colorado desert into arable land, growing wheat, potatoes, lettuce and other vegetables that has provided SLC with agriculture to haul for 100 years.
