Showing posts with label Denver Union Station. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Denver Union Station. Show all posts

Friday, May 13, 2022

Denver History Still Lives ...If You Know Where To Look

Baseball fans, especially Colorado Rockies fans, already know Coors Field is special. Constructed between 1993 and 1995, Coors Field--named in perpetuity for the beer that brought baseball here--became the cornerstone of a downtown Denver revitalization project, and its effects have not stopped for nearly 30 years! This is no booster speech; it is simply acknowledging a proven fact.

Without Coors Field, it's fair to say that businessmen and builders like former-Mayor-and-then-Governor John Hickenlooper would have had much more difficulty attracting investors and generating momentum for businesses and projects that got started or are now based out of lower downtown, LoDo to the locals. Without Coors Field, the renovation and redevelopment of Denver Union Station would probably never have happened. The FasTracks rail and transit project would have been more difficult to sell and Denver's suburbs would have been as isolated as they were in the 70s and 80s, and sprawling ever outward even more than they do today. LoDo is now synonymous with revitalized and reinvigorated urbanized living. The strong popularity of such a lifestyle has produced another re- adjective: regentrification. If you have lived anywhere in Colorado in the past 25 years, you have benefitted in some small way from this LoDo effect. 

All of these "re-s" have effects both bad and good. What's also apparent is that the optimism keeps popping up and spawning new challenges and opportunities. For example, I was more than a little unnerved by the relentless construction and development. Was no one going to remember the railroads of downtown or the Moffat Road depot or the lines that ran through Auraria? The viaducts or the Postal Annex, the yellow-bricked monstrosity that sat south of Union Station is gone, hauled away in 2005. What of the Denver of before?

It may not be possible to preserve everything, but we can still build with an eye to our past as well as the future. The Oxford is still with us. Denver's Union Station has never stopped serving all passenger trains climbing and descending to the Mile High City, save for a renovation. The Union Pacific Freight Office persists (at least outside) as the Denver Chop House. But I shuddered when I saw construction barricades going up right next to it. This was hallowed ground. This was where Gen. William J. Palmer laid the first rails of his beloved Baby Road, the narrow gauge Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. What were they doing to this spot? I didn't have far to look: McGregor Square.

Yes, the west corner of the giant Colorado Rockies-built development is built right off the spot in the street where Palmer spiked his rails. So imagine my surprise when I found that one of the establishments in the complex is called "Milepost Zero!" No! I thought, This can't be! Do they really know? And although it does not mention the Denver & Rio Grande or its later incarnations by name, their site says the following:

In Denver’s early days, the railroad became the center of everything. Across the street from what is now Coors Field was where the tracks began – mile post zero. Today, McGregor Square sits in the center of everything Denver has to offer.

It all starts here. Welcome to Milepost Zero.

Milepost Zero is the simply great, convenient choice in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood. Your home-base for shopping, dining, entertainment, gameday, exploration and everything in between, Milepost Zero serves up something for everyone in the family.

Explore the concepts in our food hall, grab a drink at the bar or pour yourself a beer from our extensive Beer Wall selections. No matter what you’re in the mood for, you can enjoy your favorites in our expansive indoor space or outdoor plaza at the heart of McGregor Square. Catch the game on our giant outdoor plaza screen or just watch the action in the square while you fuel up or wind down. 

When I next visit Coors Field and hopefully watch a Rockies game, I plan to visit Milepost Zero and hopefully partake and imbibe. It's the least I could do for such a history-minded proprietorship, even if the prices are above and beyond what I would usually pay.

Sunday, October 17, 2021

A Non-Travel Vlogger Takes Amtrak's Southwest Chief

I've been watching Alec, a vlogger--I hate using that word, but it is what it is, and his channel called Technology Connections for more than two years now. He has a knack for asking the questions I've always wondered about American technology like, 

Alec took a cross-country trip on Amtrak this past August and, being an Amtrak newbie, he splurged and bought a roomette ticket. He admits he's not a railfan or a travel blogger, so it's not like he has all sorts of tips and tricks. You can get those elsewhere, one might hope, anyway. His route was from Chicagoland to sunny San Diego by way of LA and the Southwest Chief.


En route, Alec posed some very interesting thoughts and--this is why I watch him folks!--he nailed one of the main reasons why long distance rail has struggled in America. Nevermind that passenger rail was usurped by an independence-minded but vastly inefficient technology like rubber tires-on-asphalt. Nevermind that Amtrak was never supposed to make money--he got that right too, however. He said essentially that while the cost of a sleeper ticket is mostly out of the range of most Americans, additionally, working people in the USA are too time-poor to be able to splurge 3-5 days on travel. If you want to make a trip to the east or west coast from Colorado, you book it through DIA and not DUS not because "getting there is not half the fun!" but because your damnable HR policy only gives you one weeks vacation the first three years, if you're lucky! That's not right, and we all know it.

The USA is not in an emergency. We are not even trying to beat the Russians to the moon--we're just trying to get there sometime soon. We're not even trying to keep someone else from subjugating the world, like we did in WW2. We are working ourselves to the bone and why? Our kids need us. Our families need us. Our lives need us. We last added a day to the weekend over a century ago and productivity soared! Doing that again isn't a terrible idea. Certainly adding some more time off would help. 

I'm not saying we overturn society. I'm not advocating a shift to communism. I'm saying we need to give our employees time to live a life worthy of the effort of living. The rest of the world gives their employees a much more sane consideration. It's time we do too. Until we do, reasonable rail travel will continue to be a luxury and worse, society will continue to slide downhill. No, I am very serious.⚒

Further Reading:

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Denver's Welcome Mizpah Arch

Before "Blucifer the demon horse" of DIA neighed its welcome (of sorts) to visitors driving in and out of the world's largest airport, there was a public art installation that welcomed Denver's visitors in a singularly unique way that has never been duplicated since. Denver's Welcome Arch, also known as the Mizpah Arch, stood for years a century ago outside Denver's Union Station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets.

Photo: DPL-WHG
Dedicated on Independence Day, July 4, 1906, the arch was "to stand for the ages as an expression of the love, good wishes, and kind feeling of the citizens to the stranger who enters our gates," according to Mayor Robert Speer. On installation, both sides read "WELCOME" in big bold letters. After the dedication, it seemed that folks approaching the station from the city were being welcomed to leave. Rather than leave that parting impression of good riddance, the letters on the city's side of the arch were changed in 1908. Rather than say goodbye or the like, which again could be a dubious parting word, the word selected was "MIZPAH," a salutation in Hebrew taken from Genesis 31:49, which says,
It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other...
The idea was to invoke a blessing on those saying goodbye to Denver and a hope of a return.

Photo: DPL-WHG

History of the arch itself is not very plentiful, but Denver's Railroads by Forrest and Albi has a small section from which a lot of this post is based. The arch had a double tracked Denver Tramway line passing through it from the outset. When the second terminal building was obliterated in September 1914 to make room for the current structure, the track was apparently re-routed to the west. The entire arch was supposed to be removed with construction of the center terminal, but it stayed on for 15 more years, and in the 20s was lit with electric lights in keeping with the times.

During its brief existence, the arch was not above being used for commercial use. Of note, the Struby-Estabrook Mercantile Company, before national--let alone international--grocery chains, used the Welcome Arch as a trademark for its line of products. Everything from macaroni to coffee and tea to oats and canned goods rolled out the doors of the mercantile stores with a likeness of the arch on it.

Alas, by 1929, the arch was showing its age. It had not been well maintained, and with the stock market crash that October and the ensuing Great Depression, an overhaul was not in the cards. Charles D. Vail (of Vail Pass), working for the city at the time, wrote that the arch would have to be completely rebuilt if it were to stay in the same spot, and as Vail had seen the future of Colorado in the automobile, the arch was cited as a traffic hazard and a blight on the station. The arch was removed at the city's expense on December 6, 1931.

It has not been completely forgotten, either. I remember my friend Ira, a New Yorker and proud Jew pointing to signs in a newly revitalized LoDo after a Colorado Rockies game emblazoned with Mizpah as a nod to the arch 70 years after its passing. It's a good memory of a friend now long past.⚒

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Colorado Legislature Shows Support For Reviving the Ski Train

Last month, the Colorado State Legislature, in what could be termed a show of support for the growing interest in resuming the Ski Train, put forward a grant to build a platform for service, aimed at resolving Amtrak's objection for direct service to the slopes of Winter Park.

Amtrak? Not that Amtrak?

Yes, that Amtrak, although there has been nothing to indicate that Amtrak has the initiative to begin its service or when. If and when it does, it could be a partnership between Amtrak and the state as in North Carolina, Maine, or California.

Whatever form a revival will take, it probably won't be like the old Ski Train, because the old Ski Train lost money. The new service, if it comes at all, will likely not run all season, and it will likely be a tighter fit for those riding in coach. Will it be better than running the gauntlet that is I-70 in winter? Oh yeah! But I guarantee it will be different (and likely more expensive) than the old way under Ansco. Amtrak and Winter Park are likely to have differing ideas about rail service to Winter Park, especially in terms of dates and times of service. Hopefully, riders will have more options than under the old system, and service will run frequently and fast.

Ski Train Rio Grande Denver to Winter Park in winter and summer
How many years did the Ski Train run both summer and winter? The glory of summer day trips to Winter Park to escape the heat of the city made the summer runs a special treat for residents of the Mile High City. Artwork: SkiTrain.com




In the video above, Walt Loevy gives us a brief show of a Ski Train in its final 2009 season. There is nothing like the unmistakable sound of an EMD F40 whipping by! Watching it, I can't help but remember another Rio Grande train, the Rio Grande Zephyr, with a similarly painted EMD F9 on the point and single level cars whipping by. I think Ansco did that on purpose. ;)

Here's one last video, click for a look at what the coach service was like in summer 2007.⚒

Sunday, January 24, 2016

POTD - Denver Union Station Lit Up By Broncos Spirit, Civic Pride

I will admit that a certain team in orange & blue are dear to me. That's a bit of a given for a boy growing up in the 70s and 80s in Denver's western suburbs. It has absolutely nothing to do with today's choice of photo of the day. Really!

Photo of the Day: Joel Hinkhouse

It does have something to do with the AFC Championship in Denver at 1 PM, and the sweet spot where civic pride and railroads meet. In Denver's case, that intersects at 17th and Wynkoop Streets, where Denver Union Station has been lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree. It's a showcase to be sure with the passenger shed roof framing the beaux arts design of the station. Night shots are always tricky, but photographer Joel Hinkhouse seems to have found the balance, especially his managing to catch a reflection off an Amtrak CZ roof, making POTD 2 for 2 in that department.

Only one thing left to say: Go Broncos!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

POTD - Classic Film

They say film is dead. Tell that to Chris May. A loaned camera, a roll of Tri-X film (Kodak black and white) and some time at Union Station with Amtrak's California Zephyr produced an opportunity to capture an image that feels timeless. "Union Station: Travel By Train." How many couples have stood on Union Station's platforms, Pullman coaches, engines and fellow passengers buzzing about them?◊

Union Station Couple
Photo of the Day: Chris May

Monday, September 15, 2014

POTD: A Classic Reborn and Lit With Elegance

Denver's Union Station was almost slated for a date with the wrecking ball in the early 1980s. Then, someone responded to the call and formed a group called Save Our Station. And thank God they did! After millions of passengers, Union Station was due for an overhaul and RTD needed some way to tie FasTracks into one neat bow. Look no further than the Beaux Arts classic great room of Denver Union Station.

Renovated Interior - Denver Union Station
After millions of passengers, Union Station was due for an overhaul and RTD needed some way to tie FasTracks into one neat bow. Look no further than the Beaux Arts classic Denver Union Station.
Photo of the Day: Christopher May 
Looking for all the world like a cross between a wedding cake and a grand library, the inside of Denver Union Station is something to behold. Christopher May captured the newly restored, antique elegance that rivals any rail hub of any city anywhere. The great hall has never looked better! The timed exposure almost leaves the impression that the area is deserted. Always open, even late on a summer night for this photograph, Union Station may never close again.

A great place for ColoRail to have a party! They are, after all, the ones who inherited Save Our Station.◊

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Colorado Railfan: First Look at Union Station

Longtime web photographer and near-permanent fixture on CR, Kevin Morgan of ColoradoRailfan.com visited Union Station and the Moffat Tunnel with his apprentice railfan photographers on Sunday. They explored the outcome of the Union Station Project, a project that broke ground 4 years ago and officially wrapped up just last month.

The new waiting room fuses much of its past elegance with modern touches. The chandeliers are a big improvement over the unbelievably ugly Carter-era fluorescents.
Photo: Kevin Morgan, ColoradoRailfan.com 

The DUSPA project's main effort was to enhance the station with the goal of tying all of the FasTracks projects to one central transportation nexus. Once FasTracks wraps up, it should allow a person to ride from any Light Rail or commuter rail (like from DIA) to any other point on RTD's rail or express bus service using the station as a hub. The connections are made between the train platforms, the light rail platform further out from the station and the underground bus terminal.

As Kevin explains, of the 6 rail platforms, the middle 2 are for Amtrak/intercity trains and the 4 outer tracks are for commuter trains from DIA and the Gold Line.
Union Station survives intact (more or less) with 6 train platforms, light rail and bus terminal, ready to connect another century of passengers, near and far.
Photo: Kevin Morgan, ColoradoRailfan.com

Now that the remodel of Denver Union Station is complete, one could wonder at the possibilities of intercity transit along the Front Range and possibly the I-70 corridor. Doing so could level out some of Denver's pricey real estate and extend the effective range of any working family within 20 miles of I-25 while reducing the impact on traveler and environment. Surely, Union Station is now up to the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of Kevin's photos from the day, including a primarily-EMD powered manifest at Plain harkening back to the days of the Rio Grande!◊

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Denver: The Garden With No Gate

For Mother's Day 2014, a poem by Susie Kerin, Colorado writer from the early 20th century.

The Garden

Near the mountains is a lovely garden,
Denver beauteous, haven of the West ;
Through her welcome arch the tired tourist
Finds an oasis of peace and rest.

In this garden there is always sunshine,
Happiness, good will, and blessings rare ;
Rising in a cloud of benediction
To descend in fragrance through the air.

May all those who wander through this garden
Breathe this air from yonder snow capped crest,
And enjoy each happy, restful hour
As the sun sinks in the golden west.

Susie Kerin
1870 - 1952

The Welcome Arch as portrayed in Susie Kerin's book on the page opposite the poem above. The Welcome Arch stood at 17th & Wynkoop streets in front of Denver Union Station greeting tourist and traveler upon their arrival.

Editor's Note: Typeset as appears in the original publication Poems of Sunny Colorado published in 1922. Special thanks to Larry Lootsteen and Lisa Flynn for doing the research and performance with Bono during U2's 360 Tour stop in Denver in 2011, which inspired this post.◊

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Friday, December 27, 2013

Denver Union Station Set To Re-open Spring 2014


For nearly a century, Denver's Union Station, situated at 17th and Wynkoop Streets in LoDo (map), served as Denver's gateway. After suffering neglect in the 60s and 70s, a group called Save Our Station came forward to save Denver's landmark and stood in the gap until LoDo's redevelopment in the 90s. Today, with FasTracks and a "project authority," Denver Union Station is primed to become the city's transportation star once again, juiced with hospitality and shopping opportunities that Denver's founders would dismiss as flights of fancy.

ColoRail, Colorado's primary passenger rail advocacy group, reports that Denver Union Station's project under DUSPA is nearing completion of several steps in its renovation. For approximately 30 months the historic building, parts of which date from the 19th century, has been gutted, busted up, and besieged by earth-movers and construction cranes, but not for much longer. From ColoRail's latest brief,
While an exact date has not been announced, Amtrak trains, ticketing and baggage handling are expected to be back at the historic Denver Union Station building by mid-February 2014. Here is the line-up of events as it appears today:

⊗ Mid-February 2014, in a blizzard of track-work, the "cut-over" will take place, re-connecting Tracks 4 and 5 with the national railway network. Amtrak trains currently use Track 8. Station activities will be moved into the historic building. This will begin a new period of awkwardness, due to the surrounding construction activities, with special efforts needed to define safe pedestrian routes.

While RTD is mainly concentrating on the next step, national interest is focused on the Amtrak move, after relocations in both Miami and St. Paul were fouled up. One ColoRail member riding on the Southwest Chief found himself being grilled by his sleeping car attendant as to whether Denver would be able to handle this in a timely manner or not. ColoRail board members receive many questions along the same lines.

At this phase, customers should have access between the 16th Street FREE MallRide and the Wynkoop entrance to the historic building, or a 3-block walk up 17th Street for Market Street Station connections with skyRide and Boulder-Longmont buses. Thruway buses will have to park along Wynkoop Street during this stage of the project.

⊗ On May 9th, a big grand opening ceremony will be held for the Bus Concourse, which is to link the thousand foot walk between the historic building and the relocated light rail platform.

⊗ On May 11th at 2:00 a.m., the Market Street Station will close forever and the Union Station Bus Concourse will open for business. The significance for rail travelers is that it will be possible to walk under cover from the Amtrak facilities to the plaza at the Millenium Bridge light rail station. This change will also bring numerous bus connections closer to Amtrak trains, including:
  • Amtrak Thruway bus connections for Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Walsenburg, Trinidad, and Raton.
  • CDOT sponsored bus connections for US 40 points including Winter Park-Fraser and Granby
  • CDOT sponsored bus connections for US 285 points including Salida, Gunnison and Alamosa
  • RTD FREE MetroRide bus connections for Civic Center Station and the Denver Bus Center
  • RTD Regional bus connections for US 36 and North I-25 points, including Boulder and Longmont
  • RTD skyRide bus connections for DIA
  • A variety of Local, Express and Regional RTD routes
For the future, at least two other bus companies have expressed interest in serving the station. On the other hand, residents of Lower Downtown, recipients of millions of tax dollars in the form of a landscaped plaza in front of the historic building that replaces the taxi and bus loop, are objecting to "increased" bus traffic. Actually, there is no LoDo increase, but the project changes which streets are used, as buses would no longer be going to Market Street Station.

⊗ On or about October 1st, CDOT expects to begin interdistrict commuter bus service between Fort Collins, Denver and Colorado Springs, with stops at Union Station.

⊗ In 2016, three commuter rail lines are due to begin service, including the DIA/East Line, the Westminster Line, and the Gold Line (Arvada - Wheat Ridge). These would replace several Express bus routes in Union Station, as well as the Rte AF skyRide coaches. Also improved would be connections to Aurora, via the I-225 light rail extension. Aurora stops will be accessible either via an East Line transfer at Peoria/Smith Station or via a C/E-Line to H-Line transfer at I-25 & Broadway Station.

⊗ In 2017, it is possible that commuter rail service to Thornton will begin.♦
Photo by Alex Patton, released to public domain


With the completion of the West line earlier this year, Denver Union Station already ties the Light Rail lines together. Once Amtrak and the commuter lines are active, it truly will be the regional hub envisioned by FasTracks.◊

Monday, January 28, 2013

POTD - A Marred Subject Shown In a Positive Light

Christopher May's capture of an Amtrak locomotive at the temporary Amhut station in Denver
captures a beautiful lighting of the slightly marred Amtrak logo. Awesome work, Chris!


When Amtrak rebranded itself from the pointless arrow to the current logo, I could imagine a lot of folks trying to understand the cryptic three stripes. The creative use of negative space is a little symbolic of the way Amtrak has survived for 40+ years now. People keep trying to kill it, only to find  their actions could create a gap in the country's transportation network that would be untenable. ◊

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

RTD Photo Contest For Denver Union Station Light Rail Plaza

Friday is the deadline for RTD's DUS light rail station photo contest. For those who haven't heard about this contest, the details are below in an RTD press release.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

POTD - All Is Calm, All Is Bright

 It's late on a snowy evening in December 2007. Union Station is lit up in all her glory, but the lights belie the cold rails and deserted platforms that await any weary traveler looking for warmth or maybe a room at the inn. The station sleeps in early winter slumber, a few years before the redevelopment claims the platforms seen here and subterranean concourse under DUSPA.

Amber hues and blowing snow stretch out in this somber photo
of Denver Union Station the night of December 8, 2007
Photo: Patrick Boury

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

POTD - Ski Train F-40s Led Home By Familiar Face

Jim Burrill presented at the Hugo roundhouse meeting in March with Steve Lee on UP Steam. Back in December of 2000, he managed to catch Rio Grande GP-60 3154 resting at the southern end of Union Station with the then-active Ski Train after one of the F-40PH engines developed trouble on the run to Winter Park. Only recently replaced by the F-40s purchased from Amtrak by ANSCO, 3154 was a common sight on the Ski Train up to the 2000 season.

Photo: Jim Burrill

Monday, October 24, 2011

DUSPA: Public Invited to Interior Redesign Meeting Nov 3

The Denver Union Station Project Authority is hosting a meeting to hear presentations of two competing ideas for the interior re-development of Denver's Union Station. The press release follows below.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Trainstar: Guide to Temporary Train Station

What changed at this year's Cheyenne Frontier Days Special (here/there) was the location where passengers boarded, near the temporary Amtrak station. Helen Bushnell, blogger for Train Star, completed a very helpful guide to Denver's Temporary Train Station, in place for the duration of DUSPA's remodeling of Union Station, due to end in 2014. She's put together a fairly decent travel guide in her post. Of note, she pays attention to details that are meaningful to most, including the disabled and the folks that are onboard and jumping off to grab a few items at the nearest convenience store. Thanks, Ms. Bushnell, for helping folks Travel by Train. If anyone is still looking for official information, here's the best available directions (PDF) and the site.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Cheyenne Frontier Days Winds Down

UP 4-8-4 #844 and Centennial DD40X
#6936 in Cheyenne, photo: UP
The Cheyenne Frontier Days Special has just about wrapped up its runs for 2011. They are heading south on their final run of the final day as I write. The last run is scheduled to leave Denver tomorrow at 1 p.m. for an arrival at UP Steam's headquarters in Cheyenne at 6:00 p.m. It is the first Cheyenne Frontier Days train since the tradition restarted in 1992 to run without the oversight and steady hand of Steve Lee, recently retired.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Valuable Model Railroad Damaged In Union Station Floods

The HO-scale Platte Valley & Western model railroad and the O-scale Colorado Midland model railroad, both located in the basement of Union Station, were flooded earlier this month. While only a few inches, the flood caused damage to electrical equipment of the Platte Valley & Western as well as damage to display materials stored in a closet.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Model Commuter Rail Car Closes After Extended Stay

As of 2 p.m. today, the full-scale model of the commuter train that Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) has had on public display for five weeks at Denver Union Station has finally closed. The model depicts the front third of an actual 85-foot commuter rail car. On Monday, a crew will lift the 10,700-pound unit onto a trailer for transport to a storage facility. The model was placed on display for the public to give feedback on the planned interior design of Denver's commuter rail cars.