From the Tiny Town Railroad in Morrison, Robin and I drove to Central City.
Colorado & Southern 2-8-0 71 1899, nee Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf Railway Company 9, built by Baldwin in 1897. In 1941, it was donated to Central City Opera House Association and restored to operating condition in 1987, running for approximately another two years on a tourist railroad. It later moved to Silver Plume, then back to Central City, where it was placed on display in front of the Coeur d'Alene mine overlooking the city. It was finally placed on display in its current location on Gregory Street.
Colorado & Southern Adams Express Company car 20, nee Colorado Central 6, built by the railroad in 1878. We then drove to Blackhawk.
Colorado Central 2-8-0 71, nee Ferrocarril Coahuila-Zacatecas in Saltillo, Mexico 12, built by Baldwin in 1911. The Ferrocarril Coahuila-Zacatecas was a narrow gauge railroad that began operating in January 1898 linking Saltillo and Avalos in central Mexico mainly hauling iron ore to smelters in San Luis Potosi, Monterrey and Torreon as well as providing transport for several thousand mine workers and their families. In 1959, operations were suspended. Six years later, 12 was sold to Early West Railways, Inc., in La Verne, California, along with several other Mexican narrow gauge locomotives. Early West Railways hoped to start a tourist excursion railroad in Pomona, California, but the plans came to nothing.
12 was sold to Specialty Restaurants, Inc., in Anaheim, California, then donated to the San Bernardino Railway Historical Society in 1984, on to the American Railroader Historical Foundation in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and next went on display outside a bank in Palmer Lake, Colorado, liveried as Denver and Rio Grande 71. It was then sold and moved to Black Hawk, where it bears the name Colorado Central Railroad, a short-lived narrow gauge operator in the 19th Century.
The two of us next drove to Idaho Springs.
Colorado & Southern 2-8-0 60 1899, ex. Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway Company 263 1890, exx. Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway Company 263 1899, nee Utah & Northern Railway Company 263, built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works in 1886. In 1941, it was donated to the City of Idaho Springs, Colorado.
Colorado and Southern Railway coach 70, nee Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf 194, built by St. Charles Car in 1896.
We then drove to Georgetown and parked at the east end and walked down the bicycle trail under the trestle to a trail leading to the prime photography spot here.
The Devil's Gate Viaduct.
The Georgetown Loop Railroad crossing the Devil's Gate Viaduct.
The Georgetown Loop historical marker. We drove to Silver Plume and picked up our tickets.
Georgetown Loop Railroad HistoryThe Georgetown Loop Railroad is a three foot narrow gauge heritage railroad located in the Rocky Mountains in Clear Creek County. The railroad operates summer tourist trains between the communities of Georgetown and Silver Plume, a distance of two miles. The railroad route is 4.5 miles long and ascends an elevation of 640 feet through mountainous terrain along with trestles, cuts, fills and a grand loop.
The Georgetown Loop Railroad was one of Colorado's first visitor attractions. This spectacular stretch of narrow gauge railroad was completed in 1884 and considered an engineering marvel for its time. Engineers designed a corkscrew route that traveled nearly twice that distance to connect them, slowly gaining more than 600 feet in elevation. The route included horseshoe curves, grades of up to four percent and four bridges across Clear Creek, including the massive Devil's Gate High Bridge.
The Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railroad had been formed in 1881 under the Union Pacific Railroad. The Loop portion of the line was the crowning segment of the line, crossing the top of the gorge on a 95-foot high trestle.
Originally part of the larger line of the Colorado Central Railroad constructed in the 1870s and 1880s, in the wake of the Colorado Gold Rush, this line was also used extensively during the silver boom of the 1880s to haul silver ore from the mines at Silver Plume. In 1893, the Colorado and Southern Railway took over the line and operated it for passengers and freight until 1938. The line was later dismantled, but was restored in the 1980s to operate during summer months as a tourist railroad, carrying passengers using historic narrow gauge steam locomotives.
Re-OpeningIn 1959, the centennial year of the discovery of gold in Georgetown, the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park was formed by the Colorado Historical Society. The Society's chairman negotiated a donation of mining claims and mills, and nearly 100 acres of land.
Interest in restoration of the Loop segment as a tourist attraction in the 1970s led to reopening of the segment. Rail line construction began in 1973 with track and ties donated by the Union Pacific Railroad, and a new high bridge was built. The three-mile restored segment, opened on March 10, 1984, is at the upper end of the historic Colorado Central main line up Clear Creek Canyon west of Golden. Passengers can board the train at depots located in Silver Plume and Devils Gate, three-quarters of a mile west of Georgetown.
The train ride includes an optional walking tour of the Lebanon Silver Mine, located at the halfway point on the railroad, where visitors can walk 500 feet into a mine tunnel bored in the 1870s, with guides pointing out once-rich veins of silver and relating the history of the mine.
Our Visit and RideWe first went to the museum.
Georgetown Loop 2-6-2 4 "Klondike Kate", ex. Dry Gulch Church Camp Adair, OK 2005, exx. Wild's Game Farm 1984, exxx. Gold Nugget Junction Railroad Osage, MO 1969-1980, exxxx. Petticoat Junction Seiverville, TN 1969, exxxxx. private individual for game farm El Reno, OK, exxxxxx. display at Dry Gulch Railroad, Hershey, PA, exxxxxxx. Peppermint and Northwestern 4 Waterford, WI 1960, exxxxxxxx. Oak Creek Central 4, exxxxxxxxx. display at Skagway, exxxxxxxxxx. White Pass and Yukon 4 1942-1952, nee Klondike Mines Railway 4, built by Baldwin in 1912. It is now in Como at the South Park Rail Society.
Narrow gauge speeder.
Colorado & Southern business car 911, ex. Colorado and Southern/Deadwood Central 911, nee Chicago, Burlington and Quincy "Leadville".
Colorado & Southern coach 174, built by American Car and Foundry in 1900.
Colorado & Southern Railway Post Office car 13.
Silver Plume scene.
Georgetown Loop Railroad 44-ton switcher 21, ex. Rocky Mountain Steel Mills, nee Colorado Fuel and Iron 21, built by General Electric.
Denver and Rio Grande Western refrigerator car 153, built by the railroad in 1924.
Silver Plume scenes.
Silver Plume station built in 1883.
Georgetown Loop coach 282 "Clear Creek", nee White Pass and Yukon 282 "Lake Klukshu", built by Coast Steel in 1976.
Georgetown Loop coach 284 "Argentine", nee White Pass and Yukon 284 "Lake Takhini", built by Coast Steel in 1976.
The Argentine Central Railway plaque.
The train arrived and after the passengers detrained, we boarded and sat in a covered open air car. This was Robin's first trip on the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
Silver mine tailings on Republic Mountain.
Georgetown Loop Railroad U4B 140, nee United States Gypsum 140, built by General Electric in 1926.
We started by descending through the forest.
Rounding the Big Fill.
The first glimpose of the Devil's Gate Viaduct.
Descending to the first crossing of Clear Creek.
Crosing Clear Creek.
A stone retaining wall.
The stop for the Mine Tour.
Our second crossing of Clear Creek.
Looking down on a mining camp.
Rolling down the grade through the forest before we came to most spectacular point of the journey.
Crossing the Devil's Gate Viaduct; both Robin and I were extremely impressed.
The train had now reversed direction and proceeded down grade.
Traversing Clear Creek for the final time on this eastbound trip.
The final turn into Devil's Gate station where passengers both detrained and entrained.
Our engine, Georgetown Loop 80 ton switcher 1203, ex. Huckleberry Railroad, nee US Gypsum 1203, built by Porter in 1943, would now run around the train. Once that was complete, the train will be shoved east to complete the loop.
The completion of the Georgetown Loop; we would now return up the grade to Silver Plume.
Passing beneath the Devil's Gate Viaduct.
During the climb back to the viaduct.
Our train returned across the Devil's Gate Viaduct.
Denver and Rio Grande Western box car 3582, built by America Car and Foundry in 1904.
Our train rounding the High Fill.
Westside Lumber Company three truck Shay 9, built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1923, on loan from Midwest Old Threshers in Mount Pleasant, Iowa from 2011 to 2019.
Our locomotive at Silver Plume. A special thank you to the Georgetown Loop Railroad for hosting us.
On the way back to Georgetown, we stopped for the Colorado and Southern station, then drove to the Super 8 Motel in Westminster. After dinner at the Perkins Restaurant next door, I worked on travelogues before calling it a night.
| RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE |