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Colorado by Train
Yes, definitely look down! The Durango & Silverton train rounds a dramatic curve.
Colorado by Train
This beautifully restored passenger car of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is an example of the detailed work that went into all of the vintage trains.
Colorado by Train
With its wide windows, the cog train, seen at the summit of Pikes Peak, provides great views all the way up and down.
Colorado by Train
Train riders can do their own version of rock climbing at the top of Pikes Peak while enjoying 360-degree views of beautiful mountain ranges.
Colorado by Train
The diesel locomotive of the Royal Gorge Railroad pulls closed and open-air passenger cars along the Arkansas River.
Colorado by Train
The Rio Grande locomotive builds up steam before pulling passengers on the Cumbres & Toltec vintage railway trip.
Colorado by Train
The classic train station at Antonito is the starting point for the Cumbres & Toltec journey.
Colorado by Train
Mountain views were fabulous along the Cumbres & Toltec route.
Colorado by Train
Midway through the Cumbres & Toltec journey was a stop in the small mining town of Osier for a delicious lunch.
Colorado by Train
The Durango & Silverton winds along the ice-cold water of a mountain river.
Colorado by Train
The Leadville, Colorado & Southern's diesel locomotive waits to take passengers through the San Isabel National Forest.
Colorado by Train
Victorian architecture and quaint shops abound in the former mining camp of Georgetown.
Story and photos by John Burlingham
Senior Editor
With smoke and white steam belching from its stack, the classic steam train rounded a turn and emerged from an alpine thicket to reveal a wide sky over a deep valley.
I was awestruck by the gorgeous view and the impossibly tiny rock ledge ahead that was expected to support vintage passenger cars, a puffing iron horse—and us, of course. This trip into the interior of southwestern Colorado’s Rocky Mountains was getting better with every train ride.
The Colorado rail tour run by World Wide Country Tours—now Country Travel Discoveries—was a delight certainly for vintage train enthusiasts but also for anyone appreciative of majestic mountain scenery.
Riding these rails, it was hard not to marvel over the 1800s engineering and the years of toil and trouble that went into carving a railway along the side of one mountain after another. Naively I asked why the tracks weren’t built closer to the valley floor and was embarrassed to hear the obvious answer. Trains don’t roll well through several feet of snow.
The phenomenal view I spoke of was seen from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad—technically the fourth train we rode if you count the Pikes Peak Cog Railway rising to the summit of the famous mountaintop.
The next venture went through Colorado’s Royal Gorge via a classic diesel locomotive, which snaked along the Arkansas River below steep granite cliffs. The Cumbres & Toltec featured a stately steam train climbing high mountain passes and traveling through a breathtaking gorge from Antonito, Colorado, to Chama, New Mexico.
My favorite by far was the Durango & Silverton with its spectacular trip through magnificent canyons of the San Juan National Forest. Still, all of the classic train rides—including our final journey on the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad—gave us an appreciation for rail travel of the past. Each train was unique and hauling plenty of history.
Click here to check out Country Travel Discovery’s latest version of the Colorado vintage railways tour, and create your own plan to see Colorado by train.