The Georgetown Loop

These pics are from our excursion to the Georgetown Loop railroad on Tuesday July 27th, 2010, which is located 45 miles west of Denver, CO. We went to the upper end of the loop to the station at Silver Plume, CO. There, we rode the train down to the new station at Georgetown and back. I didn't take many pictures of the actual ride as I shot video most of the way.

I recommend anyone wishing to ride this train to board at Silver Plume. That is where they house and service the equipment and you can take some time viewing everything before boarding or after riding the train. If you go in the morning before the first ride you can watch them preparing the equipment. Then after the ride, drive back down to Georgetown where there are some nice shops and restaurants downtown.



A little about this railroad, taken from the brochure we got at the station;

The Georgetown Loop Railroad was one of Colorado’s first visitor attractions. Completed in 1884, this spectacular stretch of three-foot narrow gauge railroad was considered an engineering marvel for its time.

The thriving mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume lie two miles apart in a steep, narrow mountain canyon. To connect them, the railroad’s builders designed a “corkscrew” route that traveled twice the distance, slowly gaining more than 600 feet in elevation. It included horseshoe curves, grades of up to 4%, and four bridges across Clear Creek, including the massive Devil’s Gate High Bridge. The Colorado & Southern Railway operated the line for passengers and freight from 1899 to 1938, when it was abandoned.

In 1973, the Colorado Historical Society began restoring the railroad as part of its 978-acre Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park. A replica of the High Bridge was completed in 1984, in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its original construction.