The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad began running the Ski Train between Denver and Winter Park when the ski area opened in 1940. Ansco Investment Company ran the Ski Train from 1988 to March 2009, when service was cancelled due to mounting costs. Amtrak revived the route as a seasonal weekend train under the name Winter Park Express in January 2017, after several sold-out special event trains in 2015 showed popular demand. Friday service was added for the 2019–20 season.
The scenic 56-mile (90km) route uses the same line as the California Zephyr, climbing 4,000 feet (1,200m) into the Front Range and passing through 30 tunnels—including the historic 6.2mi (10.0km)Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide—before dropping passengers within 100 yards (91m) of Winter Park's ski lifts.
Trains run on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from January to March. Service was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is scheduled to return in January 2022.
History
Ski Train at Tabernash in 2003A man standing in front of the ski train on February 12, 2006
There was one trip in each direction per day, with a travel time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, assuming no delays from freight rail traffic.
In the 1960s, 22-car trains to Winter Park were regularly moving an estimated 1800 passengers, many of them young, unsupervised and sometimes rowdy Eskimo Ski Club members. On one trip a brazen youngster pulled the emergency brake on a moving train, damaging one coach's coupler and steam line. The railroad hired three sheriff's deputies to help maintain order.[1][2]
At least during the early 1970s, the train made a stop in the Rocky Flats area.[3]
Ansco Investment Company operation
In 1988 the operation was sold to Ansco Investment Company, which made various needed improvements and ran the “New Ski Train” for two decades under the reporting mark SKTX.[4]
In this era the Ski Train consisted of three locomotives pulling fourteen cars: eight coaches, three club cars, two cafe lounge cars, and one retreat car. The train accommodated 750 passengers.[2][5]
On January 21, 2006, the return trip was canceled after a coal train derailment blocked the line, leaving some 700 passengers stuck in Winter Park. Buses were summoned to provide return transportation to Denver, and refunds offered to those who made alternate arrangements.[6][7] Just two months later, on March 19, another freight train derailment delayed the return Ski Train for almost six hours, with the train arriving in Denver around midnight.[8]
In 2007, a blizzard forced cancellation of service on December 29th and 30th.[9]
2009 cancellation
The Ski Train made its final run to Winter Park on March 29, 2009. It had been burdened with escalating costs such as liability insurance coverage, operational conflicts with freight traffic, and substantial uncertainties posed by redevelopment of Denver's Union Station. These reasons, combined with the global financial crisis, meant that it was no longer feasible to operate the Ski Train.
The equipment was sold to the Algoma Central Railway, a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway. Ironically, the Ski Train's cars had been originally built in 1968 by Hawker Siddeley for use on CN's Tempos. The F40PH locomotives and most passenger cars were refurbished and repainted to Algoma Central's livery, and are now in use on the railway's Agawa Canyon tourist train.[10]
Iowa Pacific Holdings revival bid
Iowa Pacific Holdings (IPH), a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom (including San Luis & Rio Grande in southern Colorado), made a bid to revive the Ski Train using an improved business model that utilized idle equipment from SL&RG's subsidiary, Rio Grande Scenic Railroad.[11][12] Plans fell through due to Amtrak, who would be supplying staff, classifying the Ski Train as a commuter operation vs. an excursion train, resulting in higher liability insurance.[13] Iowa Pacific sued Amtrak, which would have been found liable but settled the matter in court on December 23, 2009, five days prior to the first day operations were to commence (December 27), with a payment to Iowa Pacific. Full refunds were made by IPH.
Amtrak
The Winter Park Express in 2018
In February 2015, Amtrak, Winter Park Resort and the Union Pacific Railroad announced that a special one-day-only "Winter Park Express" train would run on Saturday, March 14, in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Winter Park. With full-price tickets set at $75, all 400 seats sold out within 12 hours.[14][15][16] By popular demand, a second train was added for Sunday, March 15, and it also sold out quickly.[17]
With demonstrated enthusiasm for the excursion train, there were renewed hopes that the Ski Train would again operate seasonally from the recently redeveloped Union Station public transit complex.[18][19][20] In April, Amtrak and Winter Park officials met to begin work on a proposal to track owner Union Pacific for running at least two trips weekly during January, February, and March 2016.[21] In mid-November, the official word was a hopeful "we're still working on it,"[22] but, a month later, Colorado Public Radio reported "Ski Train Unlikely To Return This Season." Nonetheless, negotiations between Amtrak, Union Pacific, and the Federal Railroad Administration continued.[23]
In August 2016, Amtrak and its partners announced regular Winter Park Express weekend service from January through March 2017.[24][25]
After a successful first season, expanded service was announced for the 2017–18 season, including first-Friday round trips and lower ticket prices for some departures.[26] The train utilizes the Superliner equipment used on the California Zephyr.
In 2017, the Winter Park Express suffered its first major service disruption when a freight train derailment forced the cancellation of the Saturday, March 11 train.[27][28]
For the 2019–20 ski season, Winter Park's 80th, service was increased to three-day weekends (Friday-Sunday) for January through March.[29][30]
In March 2020, the Winter Park Express was suspended during a round of Amtrak service reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[31] The train did not run in the 2020–21 season. In November 2021, Amtrak and Winter Park Resort announced that service would return for the 2021–22 season. The train is planned to run on its 2019 schedule, with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday service from mid-January through early April.[32][33]
Amtrak reported total ridership of nearly 70,000 from the train's introduction in 2017 through to the 2020 service suspension.[34]
Route
The Winter Park Express stopped at the resort, just past the Moffat Tunnel's west portal.
On weekdays and during the off-season, riders can still reach Winter Park via Amtrak's long-distance California Zephyr. This daily train follows the same route from Denver, but does not stop directly at Winter Park Resort's platform (Amtrak code WPR). Instead, riders can disembark several miles down the track at Fraser–Winter Park station (code WIP), where a free shuttle bus connects back to the resort village (code WPS). Travelers thus have two train options on days when the Winter Park Express is running.[34]
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
The Town of Fraser is a Statutory Town located in Grand County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,400 at the 2020 United States Census, a +14.38% increase since the 2010 United States Census. The town is situated in Middle Park in the valley of the Fraser River along U.S. Highway 40. Its location northwest of Winter Park, the location of a popular ski resort, has provided growth in recent years with new condominium and other real estate developments.
The Ethan Allen Express is a 241-mile (388 km) higher-speed passenger train service operated by Amtrak between New York City and Rutland, Vermont via Albany, New York. With a scheduled trip time of 5.5 hours from Penn Station to the Green Mountains, the Ethan Allen Express is popular among vacationers traveling to the ski town of Killington. The train is named for Vermont founding figure and American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen.
The Altamont Corridor Express is a commuter rail service in California, connecting Stockton and San Jose during peak hours only. ACE is named for the Altamont Pass, through which it runs. Service is managed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, and operations are contracted to Herzog Transit Services, using AAR assigned reporting mark ACEX. The 86-mile (138 km) route includes ten stops, with travel time about 2 hours and 12 minutes end-to-end. The tracks are owned by Union Pacific Railroad, previously built along the Western Pacific Railroad main line. ACE uses Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, MPI F40PH-3C locomotives, and Siemens Charger locomotives.
The San Diegan was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and a “workhorse” of the railroad. Its 126-mile (203-kilometer) route ran from Los Angeles, California south to San Diego. It was assigned train Nos. 70–79.
Denver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado. It is located at 17th and Wynkoop Streets in the present-day LoDo district and includes the historic terminal building, a train shed, a 22-gate underground bus facility, and light rail station. A station was first opened on the site on June 1, 1881, but burnt down in 1894. The current structure was erected in two stages, with an enlarged central portion completed in 1914.
Tennessee Pass elevation 10,424 ft (3,177 m) is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States. The pass was named after Tennessee, the native state of a group of early prospectors.
Union Pacific 844, also known as the "Living Legend", is a class "FEF-3" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad for its heritage fleet. Built in December 1944 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York, No. 844 is the only operating example of just four surviving FEF Series locomotives.
Winter Park Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at Winter Park. Located in Grand County just off U.S. Highway 40, the resort is about a ninety-minute drive from Denver.
An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples are trains to major sporting event, trains run for railfans or tourists, and special trains operated by the railway for employees and prominent customers.
The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 1928.
Runaway! is a 1973 American made-for-television thriller film directed by David Lowell Rich. It is an action thriller involving skiers trapped on a runaway train speeding down a mountain. The film was produced by Universal and originally aired on ABC on September 29, 1973. It was re-titled The Runaway Train when released theatrically abroad.
The Las Vegas Limited was a short-lived weekend-only passenger train operated by Amtrak between Los Angeles, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the last in series of excursion trains run by Amtrak between 1972–1976 serving the Los Angeles–Las Vegas market. Low patronage led to the train's withdrawal after three months. Amtrak returned to the Las Vegas market in 1979 with the Desert Wind, a daily train between Los Angeles and Ogden, Utah.
The Point Defiance Bypass is a 14.5-mile-long (23.3 km) rail line between the cities of DuPont and Tacoma in Pierce County, Washington. It was originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway – the Tacoma–Lakewood segment in 1874 as part of the Prairie Line, and the Lakewood–DuPont section in 1891. Passenger service on the lines declined after the 1914 completion of a flatter route along Puget Sound, and ended entirely in 1956.
The California Zephyr is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At 2,438 miles (3,924 km), it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall after the Texas Eagle's triweekly continuation from San Antonio to Los Angeles, with travel time between the termini taking approximately 511⁄2 hours. Amtrak claims the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the upper Colorado River valley in the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. The modern train is the second iteration of a train named California Zephyr; the original train was privately operated and ran on a different route through Nevada and California.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
