The Georgetown Loop Railroad

Nestled in the Colorado mountains, near the upper end of Clear Creek Valley, at an elevation of 8,530 feet (2,600 m) is the narrow gauge Georgetown Loop Railroad. This spectacular stretch of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad, built by the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railway was completed in 1884 and considered an engineering marvel for its time. The thriving mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume lie 2 miles (3.2 km) apart in the steep, narrow canyon in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver. Engineers designed a corkscrew route that traveled nearly twice that distance to connect them, slowly gaining more than 600 feet (183 m) in elevation. The route included horseshoe curves, grades of up to 4%, and four bridges that cross Clear Creek, including the massive 95-foot (29 m) high Devil's Gate High Bridge, seen in the upper right portion of the photo collage above.

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.  Ridership declined with the use of automobiles and the train line was closed and dismantled in 1939. Fortunately, the Colorado Historical Society gained ownership of the land and rebuilt and restored the railway in the 1980s to operate during summer months as a tourist railroad, carrying passengers.

Please click on to enlarge

More of the history of the railroad can be read on the placard above.

This was our third time riding the railroad. We first rode it in the fall of 2015 and that blog post can be read on this link.  We took our grandsons on the Georgetown Loop two years ago, and this weekend we took our two granddaughters.  All children seem to enjoy train rides and I think I enjoy it even more than they do!  My husband and I decided the next time we ride the Georgetown Loop Railroad we are going to add on a tour of the Lebanon Silver Mine, which can be accessed by a stop midway on the train line.

As you can see on the video above the train moves slowly and carefully when it is crossing the high Devil's Gate trestle.   The video link is here to watch it on YouTube if you are unable to view it above.

The train ride is about an hour and a half long...

...and passes such beautiful Colorado scenery! 

Our granddaughters enjoyed the ride very much and we loved spending this special time with them. As you can see in the photo collage above Clear Creek was running full. If you'd like to see two videos of the water flow in the creek click here to go to my Mille Fiori Favoriti Facebook page where I posted the videos. Make sure to have the video sound turned on in the videos to hear the rushing water! It was so refreshing. The weather in Georgetown was cooler than where we live on the front range and we enjoyed the break from the excessive 90 temperatures we've been having this summer.

I hope everyone is having a good summer and staying healthy and happy! Please remember that my e-mail blog notification will be going away soon if you have signed up to be notified on new blog posts that way.  The Feedburner free email service is discontinuing soon and I have not decided on a new email blog notification service.  You can follow me on Bloglovin as an alternative, or follow my blog's Facebook page as I post new blog posts there. Thanks so much!

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