curved east and finally ended close to the San Juan Smelter, where it met up with the D&RGW's San Juan Extension. Branch Lines The RGS had numerous small industry spurs servicing mines and other types of freight traffic, but there were at least four notable branch lines that branched off of the RGS Mainline. Telluride Branch As the name implies, the Telluride branch was a branch line that branched off from Vance Junction facing south and curved around to the north. It then went east into the Downtown Telluride Area. It then extended past Telluride to what was known as Pandora to service more mines in the area. Montezuma Lumber Company The Montezuma Lumber Company operated a railroad line that branched off the RGS Main in a few different places in Dolores. Much information about this railroad is hard to come by if not lost to history. Still, common knowledge suggests that it ran north of Dolores and through where the McPhee Reservoir is now located to transport logs and other resources to the large logging operations in the area. Boston Coal & Fuel Company Railroad The BC&F Railroad was built by George Franklin's Boston Coal mine in 1901. The mine was located on the southwest side of Durango's Perins Peak, and George was interested in building a railroad line to service it. The BC&F Railroad branched off the RGS main at Franklin Junction (presumably named after him) and curved its way 5 and 1/2 Miles up the hillside to the mine. The mine had purchased RGS Locomotive No. 35, and renumbered and re-lettered it to BC&F No. 1. The railroad spur started operation on 25 November, of that year, and was noted often pulling seven gondolas down to Franklin Junction and back three times a day. The spur and locomotive were leased to the RGS in 1925, and eventually, the mine ceased operations in 1927. The BC&F Railroad was dismantled later that year. The Franklin Junction site is now known as the Twin Buttes Subdivision, and the BC&F Grade is now a hiking trail. Mayday Branch The Mayday branch serviced the Mayday Mine, just west of Mayday, Colorado (north of Hesperus). Equipment As the Rio Grande Southern was not a wealthy railroad for most of its life, the locomotives owned were all second (or more) hand, mostly from the D&RGW. Many RGS locomotives purchased were pretty old and heavily