Crain's
Colorado Narrow Gauge Circle Tour
Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada, T4T 2A2
Phone/Fax: 403-845-2527 email us
Updated 10 Sep 2005 c.1998 - 2008 E. R. Crain, P.Eng. All Rights Reserved
Part
12: Manitou to Pike's Peak Railway
Pages Index
For
more than 100 years, the Manitou and Pike's Peak Cog Railway
(the world's highest cog railroad, the highest Colorado
railroad AND highest train in the United States) has taken
passengers to the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak. The
founder of the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Cog Railway
was a Mr. Zalmon Simmons, owner of the Simmons Mattress
Company. The first train to the summit made it in 1891
pushed by unique steam powered cog locomotives. It is not
narrow gauge, but it is a must-see on any tour of Colorado
railways.
The
mountain was discovered by Zebulon Pike in 1806 during his
exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Gold was found nearby
some years later that started the main invasion of the Colorado
area by miners, then the railways.
There
is abundant wildlife and you can see 4 states from the peak
on a clear day. There is a static display at the Manitou
Springs depot and another downtown. A third loco is at the
Colorado Railway Museum. Don’t try the railway on the
weekend when the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb is on – it’s
a zoo unless you are involved in the race. It’s probably
a zoo then too.
A
total of 8 tiny 0–4–0 steamers with inclined
boilers were built by Baldwin during the 1890’s. A
homebuilt gasoline powered railcar appeared in 1938. Five
General Electric diesel-electric rack locomotives were delivered
in 1940 and ran till 1965 with streamlined passenger cars.
These were replaced by Swiss Locomotive Works diesel electric
streamliners starting in 1964 and were augmented by larger
articulated units in 1976, 1984, and 1989. The line also
runs a rack driven 500hp diesel snow blower and a small diesel
for shunting.
The
Garden of the Gods is just a few miles away. It has only
minor railway significance, but it has such spectacular rock
formations that you must see it. Get out and walk around – it
is unimaginably strange and beautiful. The park was originally
owned by Charles Perkins, President of the CB&Q. He died
in 1907 and in 1909 his family donated the land to the City
of Colorado Springs. The stipulation was that it be free
to all and that no booze be allowed. It’s still free
and still teetotal.

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The
Cog Locomotives over time




Websites
of Interest
http://www.cograilway.com/default.asp
http://gardenofgods.com/
Return
to Narrow Gauge Circle Index
Return
to Railway Pages Index
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
E.
R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and
a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience
in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management.
He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis
and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering,
and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation,
with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.
"I
am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27,
HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G
Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny
tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940,
the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece.
I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky
Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have
toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden
railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t
like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books,
covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk,
ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these
pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience,
my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."
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