As Lobato's Replacement Is Decided, Antonito Gains An Engine The Hard Way

Whatever they do in Chama (see previous post at 11:00 PM), they'll be doing it without C&TS engine 484. The Mikado and her tender were loaded on lowboy trailers,

Lobato Trestle Possibly A Total Loss, C&TS Looks For Alternatives

The news out of Chama is not good.

On Thursday, June 24th, the Lobato Trestle on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad burned, raining flaming timbers from its steel frame onto the underbrush and evergreens below, charring 2 acres before being extinguished. That Saturday, structural engineers from HNTB in St. Louis did an emergency assessment of the trestle, and produced a preliminary report by July 1st.

Royal Gorge Route Revamps Routine, Rigs Re-moisturizing Railcar

Happy Fourth of July Weekend, everyone!

It is a happy Fourth for the Royal Gorge Route and their riders. According to their representative, they're back in business. In fact, they said,

Opportunity To Assist With The Lobato Trestle Restoration

Following up on the previous post on Lobato Trestle. I received the following message from Tim Tennant, President and CEO of the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a non-profit dedicated toward preserving the history of the C&TS equipment. He states,

Lobato Trestle Burns, Is Chama's Season Over?

UPDATE 6/21/11: Lobato Trestle is rebuilt and in use! 

What happens when you mix creosote-soaked, wooden ties, the right amount of heat and air, lots and lots of air? A very bad day for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

Gorge Train Continues Self-Imposed Suspension of Operations

As of 6:00 PM yesterday, the Parkdale Canyon fire is considered 100% contained, although smoldering fires and underground hot spots still remain. Instead of resuming train operations this morning as anticipated, the Royal Gorge Route railroad has voluntarily continued its self-imposed moratorium until the owners are sure that the route is safe to continue without risking a repeat of Monday. In a statement released today, owner Mark Greska, said,

Royal Gorge Route Temporarily Closed By Wildfire

The Parkdale Canyon fire posted yesterday is 85% contained with full containment expected by tomorrow (Sat). The fire started Monday just after noon, with some witnesses claiming the flames started shortly after the Royal Gorge Route passed nearby on it's 12:30 p.m. run.

Follow UP 844 on the City of Milliken Special

As previously announced here, UP 844 and a compliment of UP passenger equipment are making a special run to Milliken, Colorado for the city's centennial celebration this summer. Folks interested in following the train's progress online should visit UP Steam's site and track it on their big map via satellite uplink. If you tweet or simply follow tweeters, the updates will also be posted to their Twitter page.

Photo by UP Steam

Fires Cripple Two of Colorado's Scenic Railroads

Fires in two separate locations are causing major disruptions during the summer. The Royal Gorge Route has canceled trains due to a wildfire in Parkdale. More significant is the disruption caused by a fire at Lobato for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic.

Flag Day - Colorado's Star

This isn't directly related to railroads, but with today being Flag Day, I thought it would be appropriate and a little interesting to look at the flag when Colorado's star was added . It was first used on July 4, 1877, the first Independence Day after Colorado's admission into the Union.

Follow up: UP 844 To Visit Milliken On June 26

Colorado Railroads has a follow up on the post, "UP 844 To Visit Milliken On June 26" According to Union Pacific's press release, issued today,

Chama's Morning Show & Steam School

It's no secret that during the summer, Chama, New Mexico, has the best morning show around, especially when they have a K-36 Mikado like C&TS #484 lined for Cumbres Pass and Colorado. This video pretty much proves it. Doesn't she look great with the flying Grande on her tender?

Memorial Service For Jim Ozment at CRRM On June 12

Jim Ozment photo

A memorial service for railfan and photographer Jim Ozment will be held at the Museum in the picnic area at the Colorado Railroad Museum on June 12th at 3:00 PM followed by light refreshments. Mr. Ozment, who passed away December 7th, was a longtime member at the museum and Advisory Board member. Examples of his work may be found and purchased at www.westernrailimages.com

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Hits 40, Offers Discounts

This Memorial Day weekend typically signals the opening day for a lot of tourist and scenic railroads. The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad has been settling in for a week already and has a number of events scheduled for this year. Along with the kids' Cinder Bear Express and the Wild West Trains, the C&TS is also planning celebrations of its 40th Anniversary of operations between their main facilities in Chama, New Mexico and their station at Antonito, Colorado. It looks like they are ready for this summer!

Coal Creek Canyon Bridge Knocked Out Of Service A Second Time

If you've ever had the feeling you were on a streak of bad luck, you and the bridge over Colorado Highway 72 at Coal Creek Canyon might have something in common. Last December, a significant derailment dropped hopper cars like toys all over the bridge and both approaches, closing the highway. Monday, May 17th, was a bit different, but it had a similar impact, with delayed motorists, re-routed freight and a Cal-Z sent through Wyoming.

Video: D&SNG Between the Rails At Hermosa

The D&SNG is the only narrow gauge railroad that, like the UP 844, has never ceased operations. It's squat, black engines and strings of Grande Gold coaches have been delighting railfans for more than half a century.

The video below, set from a unique angle, is from Hermosa, Colorado. No analog quality here! A train running over you (or your camera) at a good 25 or 30 miles an hour is impressive, and with digital quality and a widescreen format, it's quite an amazing vantage point between the rails!

Video: C&TS Photo Freight

While every summer, the tourist railroads haul thousands of visitors, this is different from their original purpose of hauling goods, passengers, supplies, ore, pipe and even oil. For the railfan born too late, there is nothing more true to that expeience than watching a photo freight, a train constructed by the railroad explicitly for the benefit of photographing it.

MBTA Sues Denver Based Tie Manufacturer

Boston, Massachusetts' MBTA is suing Denver-based Rocla Concrete Tie Inc. for an estimated $91 Million tie replacement project after the previous ties sold to them as 50 year ties with a 15 year warranty apparently now lie crumbling beneath the MBTAs Old Colony line, which leaves Boston's city center and follows a SE direction to Plymouth.

William M. Moedinger 1913 - 2010

Noted Colorado narrow gauge enthusiast and author William M. Moedinger passed away April 24, 2010. He is the author of The Road To Paradise: The Story of The Rebirth of the Strasburg Rail Road. as well as a fan of anything that ran on rails. He was the recipient of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society's 2003 Railroad History Award in photography.

Rock Slide Causes Amtrak Service Disruption

Here's the answer to a question I know that everyone was anxious to know. The question is "Is it really possible to drive a P42 engine backward?

The answer is, if you have a conductor to spot you, sure!

Amtrak P42 #67 pulls the California Zephyr consist while running backward through Arvada, Colorado, on May 15, 2010.

Cab And Trailer Utility Truck Split Decision At Ft Lupton

On April 13th, a construction worker at the Ft. Lupton Vestas plant drove his utility truck into the path of an oncoming Union Pacific container train. Jose Lucio was making a turn on an unfamiliar crossing and did not completely clear the grade crossing before the rear of his truck was caught by the lead unit. The train was traveling 50 MPH, but took only 1,000 feet beyond the crossing to come to a complete stop. John Carr of the Ft. Lupton Press covered the accident and the construction company's personnel cleaning up the resulting destruction of the truck.

John Carr, Ft Lupton Press

6th Avenue Bridge Rollout Completed Early

6th Avenue light rail bridge rolls into place. 9News photo

The 6th Avenue Bridge Rollout has finished early. Originally scheduled for 30 hours, work was completed in 14 hours, less than half the time expected. As a result, traffic resumed it's normal flow today instead of tomorrow. Denver's 9News.com has photos of the rollout as well as video coverage.

Ft. Carson Plans To Expand Rail Capacity Starting This Fall

The United States Army Corps of Engineers is planning an expansion of the Ft. Carson rail yard. Ft. Carson is a large army post southwest of Colorado Springs. In the 1940s, Camp Carson--named for explorer and soldier Gen. Kit Carson--was started to raise Army troops for combat in World War II. Around the time nearby Camp Hale near Leadville was closed, Camp Carson became Ft. Carson.

UP 844 To Visit Milliken On June 26

The City of Milliken, Colorado is celebrating its centennial this year, and the town Historical Society has scheduled a train day on June 26, 2010, to celebrate. The Union Pacific's 4-8-4 steam locomotive #844 will make an appearance that day in town. The UP Steam site shows the schedule set for June 25th and 26th, probably taking the 25th to travel to Milliken and overnight there, and then using the 26th to perform and travel back.

Aside from a town brochure (PDF) and a calendar mentioning the date and the event, more specific details are not available at this time.

Postponed: 6th Avenue Light Rail Bridge Roll-out

Due to bad weather, the RTD FasTracks team has chosen to postpone the planned roll-out of the 6th Avenue Light Rail Bridge from this weekend until next weekend, weather permitting.

Palmer Lake Meets Set For May

For those near the Front Range, a small, semi-regular gathering of railfans reconvenes at their usual spot, a small parking lot in north Palmer Lake (see map). The meet is as egalitarian and informal as possible, with no meals or facilities provided. Someone usually brings a scanner that picks up what trains are in the area.


View Larger Map

UP Retires ex-Rio Grande Tunnel Motors To Dead Line At Burnham

It was bound to happen. With a continued lack of demand because of the recession, old locomotives that have seen their share of railroad miles are rounded up and sent via "funeral train" to a retirement storage, known as a "dead line." Intrepid photographer Kevin Morgan chased a funeral train on April 17, 2010. This time it seems to be a large
percentage of tunnel motors that had been marked for retirement, with 17 out of 21 (81%) being SD40T-2s. The train continued on to the dead line at Burnham.

Fastracks West Corridor 6th Ave Bridge Roll Out Next Weekend

UPDATE 4/23/2010 5:00 PM: POSTPONED ONE WEEK. Due to weather, RTD has postponed the roll-out by one week.

The RTD FasTracks West Corridor team will roll out the main span of a double-track light rail bridge across 6th Avenue just east of Simms & Union the weekend of April 23rd through April 25th, 2010. All lanes of 6th Avenue between Simms & Union and Kipling Street will close at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 23rd to prepare the area for the roll-out, scheduled to begin early Saturday morning. 6th Avenue and the frontage road will re-open by 5:30 a.m. Monday, April 26th.

Mudhen 463 Still Under Restoration

It's been a while since we've checked on Engine 463. In fact, we've not seen much on 463 since the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad won the grant to begin work on restoration. Now, according to the Friends, we hear that restoration continues on D&RGW Locomotive 463, also known as Gene Autry's Mudhen. It is one of two surviving K-27 class locomotives originally 15 strong in the D&RGW roster, numbered 450 to 464.

Housekeeping: Minor Change to Feed Subscribers, Coming Plans

Colorado Railroads has been blogging since January 30, 2006. Since then, we've seen a lot of changes. We've seen the very last of Colorado's home grown railroad, the Rio Grande, vanish from the locomotive roster of the Union Pacific with the retirement of SD-40T-2 DRGW 5371 to UP's steam facilities in Cheyenne. This happened the year after UP We've covered Class 1 action, scenic lines, simple grade crossing incidents and major derailments. We've even seen the birth of a shortline's steam-powered tourist railroad.

Richard L Dorman, 1922 - 2010

Anyone who has spent much time studying the narrow gauge railroads of southern Colorado has likely come across library books by Richard L. Dorman. His books were often tied to the lines and cities and towns that were born of the railroads of the Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Southern. Dorman became enamored with the narrow gauge after a 1973 trip aboard the Denver & Rio Grande Western's fabled Silverton train. He began to collect photographs, especially of the Rio Grande Southern, only 20 years gone at the time. As a result, he met a lot of the RGS engineers and wives who had photograph collections.

UP To Repair Curves, Replace Ties On Joint Line

Union Pacific announced that they would be replacing more than a mile of rail on curves on the Joint Line between near Castle Rock and Colorado Springs. The curves project should start at the end of July and end in mid-August. UP also said that they are replacing more than 15,000 railroad ties between Spruce and Monument and should complete the work by April 19th.

What It's Like To Volunteer

I just got done reading Boho in the 'Burbs: Train Yard Volunteering. See what it's like to volunteer at the Colorado Railroad Museum for a few hours. If anything, it's worth the look inside CB&Q business car 96. It's very cool to see a family get together and give a few hours together. It got me thinking too.

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad Makes Some Changes for 2010 Season

The San Luis Valley has been a world unto itself for centuries. Cut off from the rest of Colorado by mountains on three sides, it has a rugged beauty and a feel that's different from the rest of the state. Once breached by the rails of the infant Denver & Rio Grande over Veta Pass on its way to Durango, the valley's riches were easily carried to Pueblo, Denver and beyond. Today, the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad based in Alamosa, Colorado functions as a short line feeding the Union Pacific connection at Walsenberg.

State Lawmakers Kick Coal When Its Down

Not only could this bill passed by our wonderful, Democratic state senate cut coal miners in our state, but also cost more railroad jobs when we're already in a massive recession. According to the Association of American Railroads, ton-mile volumes in 2009 dropped 15% compared to the same month 2008. Only 1938 and 1949 rival such a decline. "And that's compared to 2008, not exactly a stellar year itself," according to Roy Blanchard in Trains Magazine, (May 2010 pg 6). Further research with AAR reveals that nationally, February's coal carloads dropped 10% when compared with February last year.

Clearly, our lawmakers have an impeccable sense of timing.

Coming in May: Springtime in the Rockies Photographer Special

In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club charter on May 21, 1950,  the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic is running a photographers' special on May 25th, 2010. The train will operate on the Cumbres & Toltec from Antonito to Osier and return. Motive power will feature green-jacketed K-36 Mikado Locomotive 489.

RMRA Study: Use New ROW and Invest $22 B Now

The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority (RMRA) has come back to CDOT with it's High Speed Rail study, which began in July 2008. The Big figure that makes the headlines is the $22 Billion. That would be for a high speed rail network with dedicated rights-of-way to pass 100 MPH trains through Colorado along the I-70 and I-25 axises. The critical segment running from DIA to Summit County would figure to be around $9 Billion, according to one source on the RMRA.

SCFD Free Day At the Colorado Railroad Museum Tomorrow

As part of Denver's regional Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), the Colorado Railroad Museum receives sales tax dollars collected across the district. As a thank you to the region, facilities have "free days" where admissions are not required. The museum has two free days this year. The first is tomorrow, March 20th, 2010.

With No TIGER, SL&RG Weighs Its Options

It was a pleasure to read a letter to the Alamosa Valley Courier today regarding the San Luis & Rio Grande. A doting grandmother who lives in the San Luis Valley recounted her trip with her grandchildren on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad from last fall. I too have taken that trip, and like her, I am worried that the SL&RG's denial of TIGER funds will prevent the valley from prospering.

Train Show In Denver This Weekend

As previously announced in the Colorado Railroads Google calendar, the World's Greatest Hobby On Tour is coming this weekend to Denver. On February 20th & 21st, WGH On Tour will be at the National Western Complex from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults with kids 16 and under free. For more details, visit the WGH site.

Highball, Westbound Photo Turn CRB001 Track One

Climb aboard, brakeman! We're going on a run for the latest Colorado railroad photos out there on the web. Put your grip beneath your seat, click the Read More link, and we'll get moving!

Photos From the Great Train Expo In Colorado Springs

On January 16th and 17th, the Great Train Expo paid a visit to Colorado Springs at the Phil Long Expo Center. This show was three months after the GTE in Denver at the National Western Complex.

Recession? What Recession?

When the Union Pacific bought the Rio Grande and Southern Pacific in 1996, it closed the Tennessee Pass line between Parkdale and Minturn, making the route feasible for a tourist operation. Within two years, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad began taking passengers through the dark depths of the Royal Gorge, the most scenic and accessible portion of the route using reconditioned EMD F-7s and former VIA/CN coaches.

GM Soni Honegger Resigns From Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR

Soni Honegger, a talented and resourceful man of steam, has resigned from his position as General Manager of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Honegger came to the position November 1, 2008, amid praise for his skillful resourcefulness. At that point, he had worked with the C&TS for nearly 9 years after serving with Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railroad and the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad.

Amtrak Anarchist Not Charged

Ojore Nuru Lutalo, the self-described anarchist arrested in La Junta, Colorado after being put off Amtrak's Southwest Chief for making threats and statements related to Islamic terrorism, is off the hook.

Would You Like Some History With Your Coffee?

Picture this: You're out railfanning on the joint line south of Denver--solid choice for February--and you get this craving for coffee, or at least your hands are cold and need to hold something warm. Rather than hit the nearest Starbucks or McDonalds, I have the perfect stop, and it's truly a stop worth making.

Steampunk And The Museums Of Tomorrow

If you've seen a group of people walking around your local railroad museum dressed up in turn-of-last-century or Victorian garb, especially around your local museum, you've been exposed to Steampunk. It's the future, or is it the past?

Amtrak Passenger Held In Colorado After Threats

An Amtrak passenger aboard the Southwest Chief was arrested in Colorado after making terrorist threats on his cell phone.

Building Photo Essays For Your Railroad Pictures

Have a collection of railroad photos based on a location, interest or theme? Is using Flickr or Panoramio just not letting you show your abilities? Build a photo essay, or simply take a look at what one site can do.

Amtrak: CZ Denver To Chicago Run Canceled Friday

Important Information

The information below was based on facts available in 2010. For updated information on Amtrak train status, the first site to check is always www.amtrak.com. - S.Walden 2015-FEB-17


Amtrak's California Zephyr, the only Amtrak train serving the state has canceled Friday's eastbound run from Denver to Chicago because of the snow.

From the National Association of Railroad Passengers:

The California Zephyr due to arrive Chicago yesterday afternoon got there at 17 hours 56 minutes late, at 9:26 this morning. The Zephyr due to arrive Chicago today terminated in Denver yesterday. Yesterday’s departure from Chicago did not operate Chicago-Denver but the train departed Denver west this morning.

Similarly, freight service on BNSF (route of the CZ) and  Union Pacific, has been disrupted. From the AP:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe said the cold weather and snow was causing its freight trains to be delayed between 24 and 72 hours in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Montana and North and South Dakota.

There is no word whether service for Saturday is canceled.

More Info: Amtrak Suspends Chicago-Denver Train Due To Snow