Colorado Railroads: Fun for the whole family!

I. and E. catching the Narrow Gauge Fever at Chama. . .

A good chunk of our time in Colorado last month was spent trackside. I guess that might be expected, given my love of railroads, which initially manifested itself in model railroading, then photography and writing (which served as my entre' into my first career of journalism), and eventually into my current employment as a train dispatcher.

Come to think of it, my railroad addiction is responsible for my family, for it was a railfan buddy whose girlfriend introduced me to M., and the rest was history.

So when M. and I escaped to the mountains of Colorado, dragging E. and I. along, it wasn't too hard to convince them to frame part of the trip in a railroad context.

To me, Colorado has always been about the railroads. I lived in the Denver area when I was a little kid, with a busy railroad not too far from home. Back in those days, folks really DID travel by rail, and they had a choice of which railroad would carry them (my mom's parents preferred the City of Denver over the Union Pacific; my dad's parents always rode the Denver Zephyr on the Burlington Route). Family picnics were as likely as not to end up near the Rio Grande on the approach to Moffat Tunnel, and no dining experience for a six-year-old was cooler than Denver Drumstick, where HO scale trains circled the dining room.

So could I be excused for forcing the family to spend maybe too much time this vacation riding trains? I think so! These weren't just any trains, either. No two were alike in terms of their history, their operations, probably even their gauge. And they showcased the remarkable diversity found in Colorado for those who like to ride. . .


Class operation: Royal Gorge at Canon City. . .



Winding along the Arkansas River. . .


. . .and stopping at the famous "Hanging Bridge."

The Royal Gorge Route: Regular passenger service ended on the old Rio Grande line between Pueblo and Grand Junction in 1967; the line closed as a through freight route in 1997, but was resurrected as a short-line hauling rock from a quarry and this nifty tourist train operating between Canon City and Parkdale. Tracks cling to a narrow ledge along the Arkansas River as it slices through Royal Gorge, in places only a few dozen feet wide and well over a thousand feet deep. The river through here is a popular rafting location. The train itself is a class operation, offering several levels of service, from lowly (but comfortable) coach class to de luxe lunch and dinner under a dome car. I'm a cheapskate, but since we came to see the scenery and not a plate of food, we went coach, which still provides one access to the open air cars, the only way to view this wonder of nature. The train is pulled by former Chicago & Northwestern F7's painted in Rio Grande's "single stripe" paint scheme, as is the train for ex-Canadian National coaches and a mix of former Santa Fe and Milwaukee Road "Super Domes" still wearing the paint of former owner Holland America tours. The two hour ride in coach will set you back $30. The real foamer will opt to drop a C-note for a cab ride. Bonus: Staying in Canon City, a picturesque little town with great Mexican food (El Caporal, 1028 Main Street).



My favorite steam railroad? You betcha. Downgrade near Lobato. . .


Enjoying the view climbing Cumbres Pass from the open-air gondola. . .

E. plots our path on a map. . .

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic: One of two former Rio Grande slim gauge tourist railroads, the C&TS bills itself as "the nation's longest and highest narrow gauge railroad." Jointly owned by New Mexico and Colorado, it was purchased from the Rio Grande in 1970 when it discontinued through freight operations between Alamosa and Durango; the 60-some mile stretch from Antonito to Chama was preserved, and is operated as the museum it is. Perhaps no place in America can one go back and get a better glimpse of what it was like "in the days." Among railfans, the C&TS is deemed grittier and more "authentic" than the "other," more popular Rio Grande narrow gauge, the Durango & Silverton Railroad, linking the two towns along the Las Animas River. The D&S is more polished, more "touristy" and doesn't allow the railfans to run free all over the property. It is also privately owned and reportedly makes a ton of money. Not so the C&TS--the two states select an operator to run the operation, but much of the historic restoration and rebuilding of the expansive property is done by volunteers. I'd not ridden the D&S since 1976; I've now ridden the C&TS three times (twice on chartered "photo freights"), and never come away disappointed. The chance to walk through the freight yards and roundhouse area in Chama with your kids and see a real steam railroad at work, as well as ride up a steep mountain grade to Cumbres Pass is unforgettable. Don't worry about the cinders in your hair. . .it's all part of the experience. Coach tickets range from $62-$76, depending upon length of the trip. (D&S charges from $65-79 for coach and a slew of "premium class"options). Stay at: Chama Trails Inn (reasonable and rustic).

Above timberline. . . and it's a looooong way down on the M&PP. . .

Top of the World, Ma! M&PP at the summit. Take a deep breath. . .

A "no shit!" moment: End of Track. You don't want to screw up here. . .

Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway: Most railroads are limited to the steepness of hills they can climb by adhesion--rails get to steep, and the drivers start to spin. Not so a cog railway (also known as a "rack railroad")--the locomotives have gears which engage a rack between the rails in order to battle gravity. Such railroads are common, for example, in Europe, but there are only a few in the United States--the M&PP is the highest railway in the US, and the highest rack railroad in the world, climbing to the top of the 14,110' mountain. The railroad was constructed in 1889 after Zalmon Simmons, whose company today is famous for its Beau-T-Rest mattresses, endured a rather tiresome mule ride to the top of Pikes Peak, and exclaimed (so legend has it) "There Has to be a Better Way!" And so he built the 8.9 mile railway strictly for tourists. The railroad's steepest grades reach 25% (you climb 25 feet in elevation for every 100 feet traveled; a "steep" adhesion railroad is only 2%); stout Swiss-built diesel-hydraulics get you to the summit admirably, if not entirely in luxury. The train is sold-out in summer time; on a hot July day, one can lose 30 degrees of temperature between the base at Manitou Springs and the summit. And don't expect to go running around like a wild man up top--at 14,000', there's not a lot of oxygen, and folks passing out or getting dizzy or nauseous are pretty common (I got woozy just standing up, which makes me wonder how the guy I saw smoking up top was able to accomplish such a feat!). A trip to the top may make your kids sleepy--both I and E were zonked out at one point on this trip. At times, the ride up feels more like being in a bus than a train. The engineering to climb a mountain in this manner is truly audacious, and my mind couldn't help but wonder what would happen is a train happened to get away and go flying down the mountain (it hasn't happened . . . yet!). Truly an amazing ride, and a great way to beat the heat! Reservations: Highly suggested.

I. and E. check out the small-gauge steam on the Tiny Town Railroad. . .

Tiny Town Railroad: Hey, you're a tourist attraction, so you better have a claim to fame or a catchy slogan. Here's Tiny Town's: The Oldest Kid-Sized Village and Railroad in the USA. That about sums it up. Tiny Town is and old-school tourist-attraction. Nothing high-tech here. . .just a collection of scaled-down buildings and an amusement park train--something right out of the 1950s! It probably hasn't changed much since then, except it would seem that sponsorship of some of the tiny buildings by area businesses is likely a fairly recent revenue-enhancement effort. . . Tiny Town has been an institution in the Denver area since 1915. Tucked away a few miles up Highway 285 southwest of Denver, this collection of one-sixth buildings has endured floods, hard-economic times, and picketing from upset "little people" (ok, I made that last one up). Its website calls itself one of Denver's "oldest, most cherished landmarks." But what about the train? The railroad has a full roundhouse and turntable, for pete's sake (the last operating Roundhouse in Colorado???), a couple of steam engines, and my favorite, the Rio Grande F-units, resplendent in four-stripe paint and "Grande Gold." And the price is right: admission to Tiny Town is $5, the train, only $1 for the nine-minute ride. You can't beat that! Fun for the whole family without spending $200 and having your kids lose interest after the first hour. Might be good: To drop some acid before visiting this place. Everything is so tiny, man!. . . .


I couldn't resist going for the low-angle, heavy-tele-smash S-curve shot. Boy, that Engineer looks TOO happy. . .