The Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad
Winmar Cabins was a wonderful little place to stay that we would happily stop at again if opportunity would ever arise. The only changes I hope for are some new mattresses for this place because the mattress in Cabin 3 was definitely at the end of its life and hurt to sleep on. We’d also recommend anyone staying here to bring a basic oven tray and a strainer as those are the only cookware missing to make the kitchen complete and useful. Hopefully the bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup (I refuse to call it anything else) will make the next guest happy.
Arriving in Leadville proper in the early morning, we found ourselves waiting for a little while for our 10:00 AM train. Anna grabbed herself a fancy cup of coffee from a cute little shop on main street that was absolutely packed! I took a moment to admire the local scenery and before we knew it, we boarding the highest altitude operating standard gauge railroad in the United States. Fun fact, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the US. Unfortunately for us, the aspens were already beyond their peak color change for this area, a lot of them having already dropped their leaves. However, the ride was stunning nonetheless. It’s a pretty interesting railroad, operating all modified freight equipment as passenger stock. The cars were modified extensively, the 80 foot boxcars feeling like a miniature diner inside. The conductor informed us of some of the requirements to allow passengers to ride, including having to reline the route (the full 14 miles still not done) with 110lb rail over the 85lb it was originally laid with. This was all done by hand with track gangs as they did not yet have the Maintenance of Way equipment that reduces the workload. If you’re a train nerd like me, you’ll find that neat and sobering.
Onboard the LC&S.
An example of the incredible scenery.
We very much enjoyed our ride on the LC&S and the amazing views it had to offer. It was probably one of the shorter ones we’ve had, however, returning to Leadville before 1:00 PM. The town was a disaster with traffic, so we elected to continue onward to Georgetown, knowingly arriving early. Coincidentally, the route on I-70 that we’d follow would have us travel through the longest tunnel Anna has even been inside. It was interesting to drive with a considerable grade somewhere around 3-4% by my estimation. Before and after the tunnel, we were met with 6-8% grades according to signage, leading to a challenge to control our speed without riding the brakes and still safely passing semi-trucks jake-braking the whole way down. The exit to Georgetown was even a challenge with that grade still being severe and dropping from 70-0 mph in a quarter mile due to backed up traffic in Georgetown itself. Apparently this is leaf peeper season, according to locals. Last year, the town was even closed to visitors by the staties, it was that bad!
We made it safely though, checking into our really nice room at the Georgetown Lodge, ready to ride the Loop in the morning! Due to the traffic, we decided to walk the town, enjoy a meal, and check out what the town has to offer. Another great day of our honeymoon complete!
-Tom