Up in Colorado, where the continent divides and the Rockies reign, are arrayed what just may be the planet’s premier collection of railroad trains. No mere museum pieces, these classic locomotives and vintage cars move.
If you’re a railroad aficionado this is heaven. Just want a seat with an ever-changing view? There’s room for you too.
Here’s a look at some of Colorado’s classic trains:
- Billed as America’s “highest and longest coal-fired, steam-operated, narrow-gauge railroad,” the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is sequestered away in a salient of the southern Rockies, an authentic artifact of the American West. This 1880s vintage line, and the rolling stock that uses it, transport you back as totally as any time-bending machine in existence.
- The Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad is another century-old conveyance, one that takes you back to the gold mining days that once animated this state. May through October, trains depart every 40 minutes for 45-minute trips – just long enough to accommodate the kids. This line is pet-friendly.
- A bit of gourmet cuisine to go along with the view? The Royal Gorge Route Railroad serves it up with the flair found once-upon-a-time in this nation’s great cross-country streamliners. As a kid, one of this reporter’s watercolor memory was riding the Santa Fe from Texas to southern California. After a dinner of fresh Rainbow Trout washed down by chocolate milk, it was off to my berth, where the clickety-clack of the rails worked wonders on my nine-year-old sleep patterns. In the morning, I’d wake up to the sun peeking around the edge of the shade, another dazzling day in the desert before we arrived in Los Angeles. The Royal Gorge Route evokes that place in time.
If six-abreast airline seating and packs of in-flight peanuts leave you craving something more, this is the ticket – and there’s no airport security.
(Image: chaunceydavis818)
