Featured Exhibit
Through the Canyons and Over the Peaks:
Colorado Trains and Tourism, 1880's to the Present
The history of railroads in Colorado is the story of railroads in general and the expansion of the West – people looking for adventure, horizons to explore and opportunities for betterment. The railroad provided a revolutionary improvement in long distance overland travel. Prior to the development of the steam locomotive, it had never been possible to move at a speed faster than that of a galloping horse.
Colorado railroads were born in the late 1860s, out of a desire to include Colorado in the dramatic westward expansion underway. They provided efficient transportation for people and supplies into the hills and for ore and precious metals out. As the mining boom faded, railroad companies sought new endeavors to continue making money. Some began to promote sightseeing excursions, although when railroads were in their first flush of expansion in the 1880s, only the well-to-do could afford extensive travel. Over time tours were structured and priced to have a more popular appeal. Many of the larger railroads promoted vacations to Colorado in eastern and European cities. At the time, there was a tremendous fascination with the “Wild West.”
The character of rail tourism in Colorado has changed with the times - through the mining boom, two world wars, and then the rise of the automobile and the highway system – but the lure and the grandeur of the Rockies is the same. People still yearn to see the heights and the vistas, find snow in summer, and experience the magic of steam-powered locomotion.
Colorado Railroad Museum’s exhibit "Through the Canyons and Over the Peaks: Colorado Trains and Tourism, 1880's to the Present" , remembers the tourist railways of the past – Denver & Rio Grande’s “Around the Circle” tour, the “Moffat Line” excursions to the “Crest of the Continent,” Colorado Midland’s wildflower excursions and the Argentine Central’s “Stairway to the Stars.” All the trains that run in Colorado today, including the Georgetown Loop, Cumbres & Toltec, Rio Grande Scenic Railway, Durango & Silverton, the Pike’s Peak Cog Road, and the Leadville Colorado & Southern, had their origins well over a century ago.
