Well, today we visit Pike's Peak. This is to be our final destination:
Got to the depot around 10:30 with just enough time to visit the gift shop! Mom saw a jacket she liked but we decided to wait until after the train ride to buy it. While we were waiting in line to board the train, one of the engineers was was talking to another person in line and commenting that the temp on top would be in the 30's. So Mom decided that she maybe she could use the jacket right away and bought it!
The elevation at the train station is 6,571 feet and at the top it is 14,110 feet. The track is 8.9 miles long and the entire trip takes about 3 hours and 10 minutes including about 30 minutes at the top.
This train is called the Manitou and Pike's Peak COG Railway. Notice that the middle rail is actually all 'cogs!'
And the wheels are 'cog' wheels:
They have to pull up the cog rail about every 6 months and reverse it because the cog wheel pulls on each cog going up and pushes on the same side of the cog coming down from the mountain. In other words, the wear is always on the same side.
I don't think you could get up the mountain without them because there are several 25% grades along the way and regular wheels would slip. This is a picture of an old engine that was used prior to 1955 to go up the mountain.
This is a picture of one of the cars today. Each car has two 350 HP Cummins diesel engines and they work almost as hard coming down and they do going up.
Anyway, we finally got on the train - three seats on one side and two on the other. On each side the seats face each other so we met a brother and sister - he was from Michigan and she was from Denver. She had ridden this train several times before. The conductor said that we needed to get to know the people facing us because when we go up the 25% grades, they will be much closer to us!!
Anyway, this is the start up the mountain - plenty of trees and grass and flowers along the way:
The next three views are looking out the window on the other side of the train.
Now we are approaching the timberline where the trees stop growing. They can't get enough moisture because, just under the surface, there is permafrost: the ground remains frozen year around. The last 3 miles are all above the timberline.
In these pictures (below) there is another (1 car) train ahead of us.
This is a picture of a cabin used by the workers when they have to stay up there and repair track.
This view shows a reservoir down below.
The next four pictures show the deep dropoff right outside our window (near the top).
When we got to the top, we found out that the temp up here was 34 degrees with a 25 degree wind chill.
Notice anyone in a new red coat??
This is a view of the train at the top.
Here are two views to the east from the top.
And a couple more views looking down the mountain.
And, on the way down, we encountered these Bighorn sheep.
And one last view of a lonely tree up in the timberline.
We were very impressed with the entire trip and would probably do it again. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we did.
Enough for now...
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