Rock and Rail

The Rock and Rail railroad reporting mark|RRRR began in 1998, operating on former Union Pacific track between Parkdale, Colorado and Cañon City, Colorado. It also operates between Pueblo, Colorado and Cañon City on lines purchased from the BNSF Railroad. The tourist line Cañon City and Royal Gorge Railroad also operates on the RRRR's track.

The line was developed by Mitch Albert, Fred Jones and Bill Fehr in conjunction with a mining operation, Agile Stone Systems. Rock & Rail is the operating partner through the Royal Gorge with the CCRGRR being the tourist RR. At its inception RRRR only operated on 11.25 miles of line, until optaining operating rights to continue into Pueblo, Colorado. That transaction was disputed by the UPRR, which took RRRR to the STB in a nasty arbitration. The UPRR lost allowing RRRR to expand their RR from 11.25 miles to almost 50 miles of RR.

Rock&Rail Rail Road as it is formally titled was originally formed to transport rock from a quarry site in Missouri to the UPRR. It held a right-a-way for years until the Tennessee Pass Line was abandoned by the UPRR. At that time INAP, a corporation owned by Bill Fehr, purchased 11.23 miles of line with the Georgetown Loop RR and transferred the 50% of that line through the Royal Gorge to Rock&Rail, making RRRR the common carrier freight line through the Royal Gorge.