C&S 9's 2010 arrival in Breckenridge

Here is C&S No. 9 when she was placed on display in the town of Breckenridge, a mining town she traveled through so many times during her operating days between Denver and Leadville. The engine has been cosmetically restored since its short and ill-fated partial season operating on the Georgetown Loop in 2006. 

Following the C&S in Platte Canyon: Bailey to Maddox

In this video, filmed fall of 2022, you will trace the Denver, South Park & Pacific/Colorado & Southern Railway's right-of-way from the town of Bailey to Maddox. Today's US 285 is now on top of the old railroad grade. Along the way you will see places where the trains once stopped such as the resort of Glen Isle where the 1901 hotel still stands and the original Glen Isle wait station (now restored in Bailey). You will also see the stop at Grousemont and its wait station (now combined with the restored Glen Isle wait station in Bailey). Lastly, is a stop at Maddox where many C&S boxcars were once filled with ice and sent to Denver. At the end is a look at where the RR grade leaves 285 on a ranch driveway.

What was the first tourist RR in Colorado?

What was the first tourist railroad in Colorado to utilize a former common carrier line? 

It would seem to be Cripple Creek and Victor’s 2-foot gauge route constructed on the old Midland Terminal/Florence and Cripple Creek right-of-way in 1967. 

A chance view of someone’s home movie footage posted to Youtube, however, revealed a tourist line that preceded the Cripple Creek and Victor by at least 14 years. The origin of this line, and its disappearance, is a mystery to me and I hope that this post elicits more information from those who might know.

A gentleman posted footage of a 1953 family vacation to Colorado which included a visit to Idaho Springs. In the video, a 15-inch gauge live-steam train hauling kids first crosses a bridge (constructed by this railroad? That would seem to be an expensive item) over Clear Creek and then turns westward past the Argo Mine loading chutes. 

These chutes were used in the past to load Colorado & Southern narrow gauge gondolas. 

At least 12 years after the C&S rails had been salvaged in 1941, this unknown live-steam group had laid 15-inch gauge track on the abandoned right-of-way. The video follows the train as it passes the Argo Mill. From there, it is hard to determine where the track ends.

Could this be the first time track for an active railroad had been relaid on an abandoned railroad grade in Colorado?

I don’t have any information on who started this line, when the tracks were laid, or when they were removed. 

The only follow-up is that the narrator of the home movie shows what became of the engine. It later went to the Comanche Crossing & Eastern live-steam railroad where it is today. Sometime after the 1953 video, the engine’s cab was rebuilt and now includes a CC&E logo patterned after the C&S’ Columbine logo.

While this is not the first full-scale tourist railroad in Colorado (Cripple Creek and Victor probably gets that honor), it is likely the first active tourist track relaid on a narrow gauge roadbed.

Here is the video itself. At 2:13 the family takes a bus trip to Idaho Springs and rides the live-steam train past the Argo Mill chutes.

After that segment, the narrator relates how descendants of his would later learn to drive the same locomotive, now lettered with a C&S style logo for the Comanche Crossing & Eastern.  Does anyone know where this locomotive is today?

The C&S shows up again when there is a quick shot of C&S 60 at 3:24 in gleaming paint, though lettered for the Burlington Route.  It is still at the original location with the log gift shop behind.

Happy "Colorado Railroad Heritage Week"!

I was not aware that there was a "Colorado Railroad Heritage Week," but there is! It begins tomorrow. Below is a post from the CRRM's Facebook page:

In honor of Colorado Railroad Heritage Week, which runs June 24 - 30, our June Attraction of the Month will honor all Colorado railroad attractions. 

Why? Because that’s a big part of what Colorado Railroad Heritage Week is about!

It was never easy to build a railroad in Colorado. As the highest state (average elevation 6,800 feet) in the United States, it’s filled with mountains, deep river gorges, severe winter snowfalls, droughts, floods, and steep elevation gains, all making the art of building railroads here a difficult – and sometimes treacherous – occupation.  

As a result, Colorado railroading became legendary.  

The so-called “Narrow Gauge Movement” – which advocated for building less expensive railroads to a gauge much narrower (at 3 feet between the rails) than so-called “standard gauge” railroads in the U.S. (built to 4 foot, 8 ½ inches between the rails) – came onto the scene just as Colorado was constructing the vast majority of its railroad network, in the 1870s and 1880s. This innovation allowed trains to navigate tighter curves and to be built in what had previously been impossible places.

Colorado’s Alpine Tunnel opened in 1882 as the highest railroad tunnel in the world, while Colorado narrow gauge railroads spread tentacles out across the state, reaching mining destinations that produced trillions (in today’s dollars) of precious metals. After about 1890, most new railroad mileage was built to standard gauge, allowing for the interchange of freight and even people without the necessity of changing trains or transloading cargo.

The romantic, at times dangerous, and always fascinating history of railroads in Colorado captured a huge rail fan base starting in the 20th century. Today, thanks to thousands of crewmembers and craftspeople, dedicated volunteers, and rail historians, Colorado is one of the top historic railroad destinations in the world.  

Colorado currently boasts:

● 18 steam locomotives in operation, with five more undergoing restoration to operating condition, making it one of the top two states for steam locomotion in the U.S. today

● The highest and longest steam railroad in North America (the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad)

● The highest cog railroad in the world (Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway)

● The highest and fourth-longest railroad tunnel in North America (Moffat Tunnel, used by Amtrak’s “California Zephyr” and Rocky Mountaineer’s Denver-Moab, Utah trains)

● Five out of the six original, famed Galloping Geese, a rail enthusiasts’ favorite contraption that took early automobiles and fitted them with train wheels and room for passengers, mail and freight (Colorado Railroad Museum, Galloping Goose Historical Society, Telluride Volunteer Fire Department)

● One of the largest model railroads by size in the U.S. (Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley)

● Trains that have appeared in a number of movies, including “Around the World in 80 Days” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (Durango & Silverton), “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (Cumbres & Toltec Scenic), and “A Ticket to Tomahawk” (Colorado Railroad Museum)

To celebrate this amazing rail heritage, the Colorado Railroad Museum has worked with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and the numerous rail heritage sites in the state to create Colorado Railroad Heritage Week, June 24-30, 2025. Check out the web page https://coloradorailroadmuseum.org/colorado-railroad.../ for special activities, tour offerings and more!

“We hope Colorado Railroad Heritage Week will be a time for Coloradans to reflect on all that railroads have meant to our state,” says Paul Hammond, executive director of the Colorado Railroad Museum. But Railroad Heritage Week is just the tip of the iceberg.  Hammond points out there are many ways to appreciate and learn about railroad heritage in Colorado all year long.

You can find the more than three dozen operating heritage railroads and rail historic sites in Colorado that have previously been featured as a Colorado Railroad Attraction of the Month on the Museum’s social media channels here: 

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/CORRofMonth/

Hammond says: “Rail heritage sites can be found just about everywhere in Colorado – from the eastern plains of Julesburg, Hugo and Limon, to the San Luis Valley in the south, to Western Slope communities from Durango to Grand Junction to Winter Park, and along the Front Range from Fort Collins to Pueblo. We encourage everyone to get out and visit at least one of these unique places during Colorado Railroad Heritage Week!”

5 Sections of Relaid C&S Track: Alpine Tunnel Area

Here is a look at 5 places you can find C&S rails relaid on the original roadbed between the West Portal of Alpine Tunnel and Sherrod Loop. Since service ceased in 1910 and the rails pulled in 1923-1924, a few spots of relaid rails have sprung up. There are five:

5. The turntable lead. After the engine house fire a turntable was constructed on top of the tailings removed from the tunnel's construction. It is just outside of the west portal cut. The turntable ring and a segment of track leading to it has been relaid.

4. Engine house lead No. 1. A short curved section of track that once led off the mainline to the east entrance of the engine house is again intact.

3. The mainline and passing siding. A nice long tangent of the mainline again passes in front of the station/telegraph office. An old harp-style switch stand also mans the switch leading to the old passing siding that parallels the mainline.

2. Engine house lead No. 2. Another curved piece of track was relaid past the restored tool shed and just into the western entrance of the engine house ruins near the remains of the indoor water tank.

1. Sherrod Loop/Curve. A tangent of track was relaid at the beginning (eastbound) of what was the big balloon loop that allowed the railroad to reverse itself in gaining altitude on its climb to the west portal.

Enjoy a look at all five below.

A look inside the Pitkin depot before the move

Here is a look inside the South Park Pitkin depot before the move. One can see just how little like a depot it looked inside after all the modifications through the years. It will be fun to see what the new owners do to restore its original design. 

The Pitkin Depot was moved after 143 years!

The Pitkin depot, after resting in the same spot for 143 years, was moved May 15, 2025 a short distance away within Pitkin. After many years as a residence and rental, the new owner sought to restore the interior to its depot appearance and open it as a coffee house. Zoning restrictions would not allow this at its present location. The new owner opted to move the station instead.

Below is a mixture of my visit to the site one year ago (May 2024) and footage graciously provided by Pitkin Train Depot Facebook page of the move.