The Best of Colorado’s Historic Railroads

COLORADO RAILROAD MAP 36" x 24” Folded $8.00 Covers all known Colorado railroads both operating and abandoned. On the back are eight smaller historical maps. Shown are the railroads we visit. Our motor coach is also routed to follow other operating and abandoned grades where possible. This map is available for purchase at orientation

Outstanding illustrated narrative history of the men and women that shaped Colorado. Starting with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, interwoven are the stories of the explorers, mountain men, Native Americans, settlers, miners, railroad builders and industrialists. Included are the two major railroad builders we discuss, General William Jackson Palmer (Denver & Rio Grande) and Otto Mears (tollroads and four small narrow gauge).

The most spectacular scenic attraction in the West! Covered are 130 years of history about the world’s deepest gorge with a railroad, built in 1879, running through the bottom. Also includes a complete biography of Wm. Jackson Palmer, the story of the Denver and Rio Grande – Santa Fe ‘Royal Gorge War’, and the development of the new Royal Gorge Railway we ride through the bottom of the gorge. The Suspension Bridge, built in 1929, hovers 1,000 feet above the train we ride along the Arkansas River. The book includes over 200 B&W & color photos, detailed maps, charts and geological information.

Everything you would ever want to know about the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TS). Includes the geology and geography of the area, detailed Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) history, flora and fauna, operations and equipment, and a detailed mile-by-mile guide and maps of our route. Many historic and modern photos with a few in color. The definitive reference guide that satisfies rail fans and tourists alike.

By the same author as Ticket to Toltec. Reference information about the Durango and Silverton (D&S) Narrow Gauge Railroad, another Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) successor. Also includes brief histories of the two towns that the D&RG reached in 1881 and 1882. Highly recommended. This book is available at the Colorado Railroad Museum and at shops in Durango and Silverton. It is not available at the D&S gift shop or on the train.

A wonderful illustrated history published by the Colorado Historical Society, the owner of the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining and Railroad Park. Excellent coverage of gold and silver mining development, early Colorado railroad history, the building of the narrow gauge Colorado Central Railroad (later the Colorado & Southern) up Clear Creek, the Loop completed in 1884, and the mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume. Also covered is the development of the Historic Mining and Railroad Park in the 1970s and 1980s.

Just after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, twenty-year-old Harriett Fish took the train from Oakland to Denver to marry her fiancé George Backus. After the wedding, they journeyed by narrow gauge train to Telluride high in the San Juan Mountains. George was an assayer for the Tomboy, a silver and gold mine at timberline over 11,000 feet high. This is just over the ridge from the Yankee Boy Basin mining area we visit on our four-wheel drive trip. Author Harriett Fish Backus, describes their life in vivid detail. Over half the book covers their years at the Tomboy; also covered are their mining and milling experiences in British Columbia, Idaho, and back to Colorado. At the beginning of World War I, George pioneered the process still used today to concentrate molybdenum, a metal used to strengthen steel. This is the best book that covers everyday life in the mining camps of the West.

The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway - the famous "Cog Wheel Route"! We climb to the top of 14,110 foot Pikes Peak on grades up to 25%. This is the official history and guidebook to the railway first opened in 1891. Lots of color as well as historic photos.