Rio Grande train 10, the Yampa Valley, threads through Union Pacific’s 20th Street Yard at right and the Burlington’s coach yard at left to arrive at Denver Union Station in early 1965. The Yampa Valley was a daytime coach-and-mail train running to Craig, Colo. George H. Drury photo […]
Zone & Region: Mountain West
Tristan Armstrong named as Rocky Mountaineer CEO
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Tristan Armstrong, son of founder Peter Armstrong, has been named as the new CEO of luxury tour train company Rocky Mountaineer. The younger Armstrong has served on the board of the family-owned company since 2016 and has previously worked in several operations and guest experience roles for Rocky Mountaineer. He is […]
Cumbres & Toltec names Beaudette as general manager
CHAMA, N.M. — The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad has named Ed Beaudette as general manager for the 2024 season, the railroad announced Friday. He replaces Steven Butler, who resigned earlier this month. Beaudette, who worked for many years as the railroad’s manager of engineering and operations, currently serves on the board of the Friends […]
Colorado looks to rental-car fee to raise funds for passenger rail projects
DENVER — Colorado legislators plan to introduce a bill that will increase the state fee on rental cars by $2 to $3 per day to help pay for proposed passenger rail service along the Front Range and to Craig, Colo., the Colorado Sun reports. The fee would generate as much as $50 million annually, which […]
Organization behind Uinta Basin project asks Supreme Court to review decision overturning route’s approval
WASHINGTON — The group of Utah counties supporting construction of the Uinta Basin Railway has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision blocking the project, as it had indicated was its intent. The website Colorado Newsline reports the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition filed the petition on March 4, asking the court to […]
Colorado officials ride inspection train from Denver to Longmont
LONGMONT, Colo. — Using the idle equipment from Amtrak’s Winter Park Express, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, state legislators, and local officials rode an inspection train from Denver to Longmont today (Thursday, March 7). The 44-mile, 90-minute trip used the BNSF Railway route via Boulder that is proposed for passenger service that would continue north to […]
California Zephyr resumes full route after a week of cancellations
CHICAGO — Beginning today (Wednesday, March 6) Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr will depart Chicago for California for the first time the Feb. 27 departure encountered freight congestion and weather obstacles that resulted in arrival into Emeryville, Calif., 10 hours, 35 minutes late. Those cars and locomotives, stranded for more than a week at Amtrak’s Oakland […]
Classic Trains Film Archive | Colorado and Wyoming, J. David Ingles Reel 14
Classic Trains Film Archive | Colorado and Wyoming, J. David Ingles Reel 14 – Amidst the Great Plains states of Colorado and Wyoming, J. David Ingles vintage color footage captures notable classic railroads, including Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Colorado & Wyoming; Rio Grande; Santa Fe; Union Pacific; and even Sperry Rail Service! ………………………………… Look back […]
West Coast winter weather affects California Zephyr, Empire Builder
CHICAGO — Amtrak’s California Zephyr has been cancelled west of Salt Lake City through the weekend as weather forecasters are predicting heavy snow will pound Donner Pass and the Sierra Nevada mountains through Saturday. Service on the Seattle segment of the Empire Builder route was also disrupted this week. Trouble started early Thursday when the […]
Major reconstruction project to halt light rail service to downtown Denver
DENVER — Light rail service in downtown Denver will be halted from late May through September as part of a four-phase, $152 million project to rebuild much of the infrastructure dating to the opening of the light rail system in 1994, the Regional Transportation District announced Wednesday. The closure of the downtown loop will begin […]
Doug Dederick’s N scale Great Northern
Doug Dederick’s N scale Great Northern Kalispell Division is set in Montana in the late 1950s. The 29 x 36-foot walk-in layout, featured in the April 2024 issue of Model Railroader, is set between Whitefish, Mont., and Shelby, Mont. The model railroad features several of GN’s name passenger and freight trains, including the Empire Builder, […]
T-TRAK Project Part 5: Beginning Scenery
Modelers David Popp, Brian Schmidt, and Bryson Sleppy begin the scenery process on their T-TRAK modules by looking at photos of the Colorado plains. T-TRAK is a modular N scale railroading system that uses foot-wide boxes plugged together to build tabletop layouts. In this fifth installment, the three modelers explain how to build hills and […]