This trip is quite possibly one of the most “classic” train tours in the Colorado Rockies. The itinerary makes a great circle of the Rockies round-trip from Denver and is timed as either a cool escape from the heat of summer or for the stunning peak of the autumn aspen colors, riding standard and narrow gauge railways to summits of over 14,000 feet. Also included is a ride on the legendary Rio Grande route through the depths of the Royal Gorge. Passenger service to the “hanging bridge” in the Royal Gorge ended in 1967, but since has resumed, restoring service to Colorado’s most renowned railway ride.

Teddy Roosevelt described a train journey through Colorado as “the trip that bankrupts the English language”! The itinerary makes a great circle of the Rockies round-trip from Denver and timed for the stunning peak of the autumn aspen colors. Numerous train rides include the Light Rail (trolley) line in Denver; Amtrak’s California Zephyr; both the legendary narrow gauge Silverton and the Cumbres and Toltec scenic railways; the Pikes Peak Cog Railway; the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad to the Climax Mines; the Georgetown Loop narrow gauge circle line; a visit to the excellent Colorado Railroad Museum; the miniature Royal Gorge Scenic Railway and, in contrast, the restored standard gauge Royal Gorge Route train through the depths of the canyon. New is the reopened former Rio Grande route, the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad, on which you travel from Alamosa over La Veta Pass to the little village of La Veta. This is one of the most remote and beautiful standard gauge lines in the west, and Sunday trains are usually steam-powered. On the return, the motorcoach visits Great Sand Dunes National Park!

This tour has significant interest for both train buffs and others. Even those with no interest in railways will love the remarkable vistas from Colorado’s trains. Non-rail sightseeing includes traveling through the mountains between Ouray and Telluride, ancient Anasazi Indian cliff dwellings, ghost towns, and sublime scenery ranging from vast deserts to alpine peaks. You visit the great resorts of Glenwood Springs, Ouray, Durango, Silverthorne and Colorado Springs.

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Call 877-929-7245 for air and rail fares and schedules
from your city to and from Denver.

• All rail travel, and coach fares
• All sightseeing and hotels
• Attractions admissions
• Meals noted as included below
• 13 meals as oulined in the the itinerary
• Luggage handling
• Tour manager services
• Transfers during the tour
• Arrival/departure transfers in Denver are NOT included, nor are incidentals or items of a personal nature.

Day One, Monday, August 3 or September 14
Independent arrivals into Denver. Accommodations are included at the Comfort Inn Downtown, a full-service hotel associated with and sharing public rooms with the legendary Brown Palace Hotel. No activities are scheduled today, as trains and planes can arrive in Denver throughout the day. Downtown Denver has a vibrant historic district and is served by Denver’s great new Light Rail System. A nice option would be a ride on the new Southeast Line, which is nearly 25 miles long! An all-day pass is only $6.00.

Day Two, Tuesday, August 4 or September 15 (B)
You depart this morning for the finest scenic journey on the entire Amtrak system, the California Zephyr crossing of the Rockies. Your streamlined double-decker Superliner follows the Union Pacific’s former Denver and Rio Grande Western RR Moffat Route west. You begin with a 4,000-foot ascent to the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel through the yawning abyss of the South Boulder Canyon. At Plainview, the view encompasses three states.

The great 6.2 mile-long tunnel takes you through the Continental Divide (the “Crest of the Continent”) and into the drainage of the mighty Colorado River. You follow a succession of ever deeper and grander canyons: the Fraser, Byers, Gore, Red and Glenwood. Glenwood Canyon, a 6,000-foot deep slash in the ranges of the western slope, ends at the lovely resort of Glenwood Springs. Detrain here and overnight at the Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge. The world’s largest outdoor hot springs pool is right at the hotel and open this evening for a swim. Pool admission is included in the tour.

Day Three, Wednesday, August 5 or September 16 (L)
Grand Mesa; Ouray. Your first scenic drive occurs as you follow the increasingly arid canyons of the Colorado River west through Rifle and Palisade, and then begin the ascent and crossing of Grand Mesa. The nearly flat summit of this 10,000-foot mountain is incised with dozens of tiny lakes. The slopes are cloaked in an immense aspen forest, which should be blazing gold at this time. After descending to the apple orchards and ranches near Delta, you have an included lunch at the Apple Shed Gallery before continuing south into the awesome San Juan Mountains. Your hotel is the Ouray Chalet in the spa town of Ouray. This picturesque village lies in an amphitheater of giant peaks with waterfalls plunging into the village from the heights above.

Day Four, Thursday, August 6 or September 17
Uncompahgre Canyon; Red Mountain Pass; Telluride; Lizard Head Pass. This morning take a drive through Uncompahgre Canyon, past Black Bear Falls, to the summit of Red Mountain Pass. You then return to Ridgeway and turn west over Dallas Divide for Telluride. Enroute to Red Mountain Pass you see narrow gauge railway traces and well-preserved ghost towns. From Ridgeway to Telluride and Durango you closely follow the abandoned grade of the Rio Grande Southern RR across the top of the world.

The RGS was the most remote of the Colorado Narrow Gauge Lines. Briefly (in the early 1890s) this route was so successful it minted silver passes. After the Silver Panic of 1893, it staggered on for 60 more years, ultimately inventing the “Galloping Goose” railcar. This was a Buick on rails for use on days when traffic wouldn’t justify a real steam-powered train (and there were all-too-many such days for the RGS). You see a preserved “Goose” in Telluride during your mid-day stop for optional lunches and shopping. Telluride lies on the floor of a box canyon. At the head of the valley, waterfalls cascade over a thousand feet down the slopes. The entire center of town is a National Historic Landmark.

The RGS route includes the open Dallas Divide with excellent views of Mount Sneffels and Lizard Head Pass, traces of the Ophir Loop, and vistas of lovely Trout Lake. As an added treat, visit the Anasazi Heritage Center to learn of the “ancient ones”: Native Americans who built the cliff dwellings of the Southwest. Your home for two nights is the landmark General Palmer House Hotel in Durango, adjacent to the active depot of the steam-powered Silverton train. This hotel is a Victorian treasure.

Day Five, Friday, August 7 or September 18 (CB)
The Silverton Train. The entire day is devoted to the grandest of all Colorado rail journeys and one of the most spectacular in the world, the steam-powered Silverton train’s ascent of the Animas River Canyon to the “ghost town” of Silverton. Built as the Silverton Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG), today’s Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway operates 45 miles north from Durango through scenery that approximates Switzerland.

The climb begins in the broad lower valley of the Animas River before the canyon narrows, all roads vanish, and for 30 miles there exists only the railroad, the glacial green waters of the Animas and the 12,000 to14,000-foot peaks of the San Juan Mountains mantled with blazing aspen forests. You have a mid-day layover in Silverton for lunch and time to explore the shops and galleries before an afternoon return to Durango. The return opens new vistas of the High Line and the mighty San Juans.

Day Six, Saturday, August 8 or September 19 (CB,L)
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Early this morning you drive to Chama, NM to board the longest narrow gauge steam railway in North America. The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR follows the former Denver and Rio Grande San Juan Extension for 64 miles over 10,033 foot Cumbres Pass through the heart of the San Juan Mountains. Powerful 2-8-2 “Mikado” engines power the train up the 4% grade to the Pass, often double-heading for the ascent. Past the divide, the train enters the deep canyon of the Rio des los Pinos (River of Pines). For 50 miles no paved road crosses the tracks. You stop for an included luncheon at Osier, then descend steeply past Toltec Gorge. Los Pinos Canyon is covered with aspen trees, which should be in radiant color as you cross and recross the Colorado/New Mexico border enroute to your destination at Antonito in the vast San Luis Valley. Overnight for the next two nights at the Inn of the Rio Grande in Alamosa.

Day Seven, Sunday, August 9 or September 20 (L)
Rio Grande Scenic RR over La Veta Pass. Today you enjoy Colorado’s newest (yet historic) rail line, the standard gauge Rio Grande Scenic RR which you ride from Alamosa to La Veta. This line restores passenger service to wildly beautiful La Veta Pass, a summit last crossed by regularly scheduled passenger trains over 50 years ago. Weekend service on the line is normally powered by a restored former Southern Pacific 2-6-0 steam engine, or a former Grand Canyon Ry 2-8-0. You have an included lunch at the historic Spanish Mission-style La Veta Inn before returning to Alamosa via Great Sand Dunes National Park. Here the endless easterly flow of the winds across the vast San Luis Valley has created towering sand dunes which rise up to 750 feet above the valley floor against the westward flanks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Day Eight, Monday, August 10 or September 21 (L)
The Royal Gorge via three different trains; Buckskin Joe. The Royal Gorge beckons. The Arkansas River bisects a tall plateau between Parkdale and Canon City, creating a gorge over 1200 feet deep with sheer cliffs towering above. The canyon is so narrow at the bottom that the D&RG railroad constructed a unique “Hanging Bridge” anchored on both sides of the canyon, thus running the tracks suspended over center of the river! Once this was the most famous train stop in the west; and all services on the original Rio Grande RR mainline paused here for pictures. A thousand feet above is the spectacular Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge, the highest such span on earth.

View this awesome sight on three different trains. First ride the miniature Royal Gorge Scenic RR, a three-mile long journey on a 15-inch gauge train that leads to a sweeping overlook. Following this ride, you make a visit to Buckskin Joe Frontier Town, a reconstructed mining town with log buildings dating from the 1850s. At mid-day you explore the canyon’s depths, riding the newly restored Royal Gorge Route Railroad passenger train on the historic former Rio Grande RR tracks. As an added treat, you will travel in the First Class vista-dome car today with an included lunch which you order from the “Dome Car Grille” menu on-board. As in the past, the highlight of the journey is the stop at “Hanging Bridge” in the narrowest point in the chasm. Finally you visit the soaring Suspension Bridge and ride the inclined railway from the rim to the river’s edge! After an amazing day, you drive to Colorado Springs, overnighting in the city center at the renowned Antlers Hilton Hotel.

Day Nine, Tuesday, August 11 or September 22 (L, D)
Pikes Peak Cog Railway; Garden of the Gods. You drive through the stunning red-rock monoliths of the Garden of the Gods enroute to Manitou Springs. Here you board the world’s highest cog railway, the Manitou Springs and Pike’s Peak Cog Ry., and ascend to the 14,110 foot summit of Pike’s Peak, which inspired the writing of “America the Beautiful”.

Luncheon is included at Giuseppe’s Old Station Restaurant in the former Colorado Springs depot of the Rio Grande. This afternoon you drive west into the high peaks. Follow the abandoned routes of the Colorado Midland and South Park railways to Summit County, on the shores of Lake Dillon, staying at the Lake Dillon Lodge in Frisco for the next two nights.

Day Ten, Wednesday, August 12 or September 23 (L)
Explore Leadville; train to Climax. Visit the highest city in North America today, the former silver mining town of Leadville, which lies at over 10,000 feet elevation. En route today you make two crossings of the Continental Divide. Visit the historic Tabor Opera House, the Healy House, and the new National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, and enjoy lunch at the National Historic Landmark Delaware Hotel. This afternoon ride on the last miles of the former Denver, South Park and Pacific RR. The Leadville, Colorado and Southern RR now operates the former South Park route up Fremont Pass to the Climax Mines. This line was built to three-foot gauge, then converted to standard gauge during World War II to handle the huge surge in mine traffic during the war. The views from this line are among the grandest in Colorado, offering open vistas of the perpetually snow-capped high peaks of the College Range.

Day Eleven, Thursday, August 13 or September 25 (L,D)
Georgetown Loop RR; Colorado RR Museum. You make your last crossing of the Great Divide enroute to the ghost town of Silver Plume, where you ride the steam-powered narrow-gauge Georgetown Loop Railway. This former Colorado and Southern narrow-gauge line faced an almost insurmountable engineering challenge in conquering the dramatic rise between the silver-mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume. In an airline distance of just under two miles, the C&S engineers gained over 600 feet in elevation by resorting to a 4½-mile route including a high trestle and a complete loop. Once a world-renowned landmark, the line was torn up in 1937, then rebuilt by the Colorado State Historical Society as a tribute to railway men of the boom era. The scenery is unbelievably grand! Lunch at the Happy Cooker in the beautifully preserved Victorian town of Georgetown and tour the landmark Hotel de Paris.

Later explore the superb Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, which has a priceless collection of Colorado standard and narrow gauge relics. The treasures here range from 120-year-old steam engines to original “Galloping Goose” railcars and the diesel engines that powered the “Rio Grande Zephyr” and “Royal Gorge” trains. This evening take Denver’s new Light Rail (trolley car) line to dine at the landmark Buckhorn Pioneer Exchange Restaurant. The café is decorated with mounted wildlife specimens collected in the late 19th century, including some attributed to Teddy Roosevelt. Your last tour night is again at the Comfort Inn Downtown in Denver.

Day Twelve, Friday, August 14 or September 25 (CB)
Tour ends. Your tour ends with independent departures by rail or air this morning.

   

   

   

 Departure Dates:

• August 3 – 14
• September 14 – 25

 Per Person Rates:

• $2999 per person (double occupancy)
• $3549 per person (single occupancy)