Railfans Hope For A Little Coal In Their Stockings

If you're a railfan, you've likely dreamed of firing up a steam engine and highballing it on the main line. Christmas brings those dreams especially close. To all my railfan readers and friends, enjoy this for your personal use.

Denver & Rio Grande engine 168 sits under a fresh blanket
of snow in Antlers Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
2100 px PNG file, right click and choose "Save link as" to save it to your wallpapers folder

1600 px PNG file

Have a warm, safe and blessed Christmas, and a happy new year!◊

Half-off Rio Grande Scenic Railroad Tickets For This Weekend

The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad that runs between La Veta (near Walsenburg) and Alamosa, Colorado is offering 50% off tickets for all seats departing June 29, 30 & July 1, 2012. Use the code "valley radio" when purchasing your tickets. The tickets will also give you access to the concert at Fir by bluegrass act Special Consensus and singer/songwriter Anne Hills.

Tickets For Goosefest Includes VIP Offer

photo by Matt Isaaks

As mentioned before, Goosefest on June 16 & 17 at the Colorado Railroad Museum is the first full Galloping Goose reunion. Tickets are $15, 5 & 10 for adults, children & seniors, or $30 for families. Additionally, there is are 40 VIP packages available for $250. CRM Executive Director, Donald Tallman, explains,

Steam-to-steam Transfers On Wednesdays Until August 17th

Here's a video from 2008 when the steam-to-steam transfer at Antonito was quietly tried out using a caboose to take riders into Alamosa.

New Icons

It's amazing what consumes a blogger's time. I spent most of my useful time today on one--just one!--silly icon. Nevermind that the other three took almost as much time. Icons ...that you might notice. You might even click on them.

Durango Looks Great This Summer

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, headquartered in Durango, Colorado, is offering a rare deal for vacationers this summer and has several events planned. Durango, a town that's never really shed it's wild west image, is an amazing place to fall in love with narrow gauge, steam railroading. It's worth the travel time to get there, and if you're really brave, you'll bring your camera but leave your laptop and smartphone charging at home. Unplugging with only a hotel phone for emergencies may be the 2011 way of "roughing it," for some folks. I know that for me, doing so would certainly add to the old west, frontier feel!

Chama's Morning Show & Steam School

It's no secret that during the summer, Chama, New Mexico, has the best morning show around, especially when they have a K-36 Mikado like C&TS #484 lined for Cumbres Pass and Colorado. This video pretty much proves it. Doesn't she look great with the flying Grande on her tender?

SCFD Free Day At the Colorado Railroad Museum Tomorrow

As part of Denver's regional Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), the Colorado Railroad Museum receives sales tax dollars collected across the district. As a thank you to the region, facilities have "free days" where admissions are not required. The museum has two free days this year. The first is tomorrow, March 20th, 2010.

Would You Like Some History With Your Coffee?

Picture this: You're out railfanning on the joint line south of Denver--solid choice for February--and you get this craving for coffee, or at least your hands are cold and need to hold something warm. Rather than hit the nearest Starbucks or McDonalds, I have the perfect stop, and it's truly a stop worth making.

Ride La Veta Pass For $18.78!

On June 22, 1878, the Rio Grande reached Alamosa in the San Luis Valley. The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad is drawing inspiration from the date.

Kicking off the 2009 season over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23 - 25, the train is offering a special daily ticket price that harkens back to 1878, the year the train’s route to La Veta, Colo. was first established. Throughout opening weekend, roundtrip tickets are just $18.78 per person. Passengers can board the train in either La Veta or Alamosa.

Please note, I checked with the office and this fare is for round-trip, not one-way. Interested? You can visit the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad web site and click the link at upper right to buy tickets or call 877-726-RAIL (877-726-7245).

Have a great time on the newest steam mileage and let them know you saw it on Colorado Railroads blog!

A Note To My Regulars

To my regular readers, thanks for continuing to read Colorado Railroads. I'm starting to really enjoy this work.

As a reminder, I am continuing to update the special events calendar on Google calendars. The original post continues to show the upcoming events automatically, so you might want to bookmark it and check back there often. In terms of events, I added the swap meet at Arapahoe County Fairgrounds next weekend and a "Big Boy" day at the Forney Transportation Mueuem, along with several other "just announced" events. If you have an event, or you see one that is missing, please drop me a line at coloradorailroads@gmail.com about it. I'll be glad to put it up if it meets the guidelines.

I have also added more links, such as an expanded model railroading listing. Check out the new sites and maybe even visit one.

Finally, check out the store I've set up with Amazon. I continue to hand-pick all the items that relate to Colorado railroading, not just railroading in general. I am accepting reviews of products as well.

Highball!

Steve