Riding Colorado's Charming Georgetown Loop Railroad | 10 Things to Know Before You Go

Hey everybody, my name is Matt with We're in the Rockies and my wife Cheryl is behind the camera. Today we are at the Georgetown Loop Railroad in Georgetown, Colorado. We just finished our pretty cool train ride here in Georgetown and we want to give you 10 things to know about this before you come and ride this train just so you can know if this is the right experience for you. Georgetown is a charming small town located about an hour away from Denver. It's most visited for its Georgetown Loop Railroad, one of several old-timey railroads in Colorado. Most of these railroads were once used for mining, but what makes Georgetown unique is that the line was originally established as a scenic ride for tourists way back in the 1800s, making it one of Colorado's first visitor attractions. It helped open the Rocky Mountains for sightseers. So first thing to know is that it is popular. It sells out. I was quite amazed when we arrived here that the parking lot was just packed and so that's something to know is that you need to get your tickets in advance. You can book them online on their website. We'll go over pricing and a few details later, but just know that it's popular and something I'm really discovering is that train rides in general are extremely popular. People love traveling on trains and I can see why. It's really cool. They go through the mountains with some really beautiful views. They give you that kind of just old-time feeling. You get to enjoy the scenery without having to drive and do the steering wheel and all that. The next thing to know about this railroad, it is a short ride. You only go 4.5 miles and the whole trip only takes one hour and you even get a 15 minute little break midway through included in that one hour. So you really only spend about 45 minutes on the train ride, which I thought was actually kind of perfect for my family. There's actually another train ride in the sister city of Leadville that is an hour and a half long, but it was $25 more and after reading some reviews, I decided this was the best pick for my family and I'm glad I did it. Now, if you've gone on the other rail line in Leadville, please leave in the comments and let us know. I'm sure other people would love to know your experience so that they can pick the best ride for them. Okay, the next thing is about the passenger cars. So the passenger cars that you'll be riding in here, there are a variety of different styles of cars along that track there. Some of them are open, actually the entire thing is open. So if you end up sitting in one of those, bring a hat or something like that because even though the temperature isn't very hot today, it feels hot in the sun. So it does kind of bake on you up here high in the mountains. It's a little weird, the sun is, but some of them are open top. Some of them are closed top, but they have open windows and then some of them have a few windows that are open and a few that are closed. So there's kind of a variety there that you might end up sitting on. So just be aware of the kind of the different styles there. Okay, while we're on the topic of cars, be aware that the seating is first come first serve. So if you're wanting to kind of pick out your perfect seat, get here early, probably 30 to 45 minutes early would be my guess. I think we got here about 15 to 20 minutes early and we were near the end of the line. So get here very early so that you can choose because they all load you in the same entrance and then you just start spreading up and down the train and picking out your seat there. So if you if you want that best seat, get here very early. Also you can sit on either side of the cars on the the mountainside or on the riverside. So we would suggest sitting on the riverside for the best views. So when you get on the train, you'll actually see the river running right by you. Sit on that side of the river if possible. One little tip that I read before we got on the train was to try to sit in the center car. I noticed on our train today there were 11 cars and the reason why they recommend you sit in the middle is because the engine actually switches sides and so you don't want to sit too close to the engine or you're going to be getting blasted out with smoke and noise. So the center car is a great spot to be because no matter which side the engine ends up being on, you're in a good spot. The next thing to know is that the word loop is used very loosely when they describe the Georgetown railway loop. Yes the train may loop around at the end a little tiny bit but the scenery that you see on the way up the mountain is the exact same that you see on the way down and I would recommend like Matt said earlier sitting on the riverside but if you want to actually see I think the better side is the river but you'd want to switch sides of the train if you're wanting to vary up what you were seeing. Okay you can see the train right behind me here at least the engine it is just finishing up a run here. Next thing to know about it is the narration along the route so while you are on the train going up to the top they don't do any narration they just let you enjoy the ride without having to you know hear them talk whatever you just get to enjoy the scenery and the breeze and all that but on the way back they do give you a narration and give you some information about the history of the train and all that which was great except that I couldn't hear him it just wasn't very loud so that was kind of my only complaint about that is it was just really hard to hear him if there was any noise going on at all next to me I couldn't hear what they were saying which is kind of a bummer because I thought it was kind of interesting and we'll get into it a little bit later here just a few brief things about the history of this train. As far as pricing on this train goes as I mentioned this was a lot more affordable than the train ride in Leadville. For my family this year it was $34 I believe for adults and $28 for children and a child is up to 15 years old so I have a 15 year old I was pretty geeked about that so for my whole family to ride the train it was $180 which I thought was a steal because everything in Colorado is so expensive. Okay the next thing to know is about the ride itself what can you expect once the train starts going on the tracks? Well the train is going to go about 14 miles per hour it's going to go up a four percent grade at times. They call it a loop because it does kind of make a loop in the canyon like it loops around like a big u-turn like a horseshoe bend type of a thing but it's not as we've mentioned it's not a loop itself but it does kind of loop around which is interesting and it crosses this bridge behind me here which is the Devil's Gate High Bridge which that's really cool going over the top of that bridge you're staring straight down into the river there that's a pretty cool look and there's actually two other small bridges that it'll cross as you get up into the canyon so that's pretty cool you're going to see some really big boulders that have kind of come down the hillside you're going to see the gorgeous creek down below you or at least off to the side you will also see I-70 so this is the same canyon that I-70 travels through and for most of the ride you're below I-70 so you don't really think about it too much but then it does get up to where I-70 is and you're actually very close to the freeway right there for a moment that's kind of detracts from the ride I would say a little bit for sure because you know you're suddenly you're not really feeling like you're in nature anymore you're just right there by semi-trucks but for the part I mean it is a very scenic ride it's a beautiful canyon that you're traveling through of course I-70 is a beautiful road to drive so it is a great area and all that and then once you get up to the top of the canyon there it stops for about 15 minutes and it lets you out they have a little museum up there a little gift shop of course you can buy a few things the museum wasn't much at all unless you were like really into train cars or something like that not a lot to look at in there it is just a short 15 minute stop and then you're back on the train and coming down I think the thing we enjoyed the most about the actual train ride was just the breeze the open air like we sat right by the window with no window we sat right by the open window and it was just breezy and really pretty and I think that's the thing just relaxing it was just a nice relaxing drive it was kind of nice actually to smell the the steam in a way and so it was just cool it's a great great ride. A little bit about the history of this train Georgetown just like everywhere else was a mining town they found silver here and it was a pretty big deal and this train was actually in the 1880s when they started doing this train and it would go to and from Denver a few times a day but as things slowed down the war happened and then the depression happened people really were not riding this train anymore and so they actually tore up the track sold it for scrap and it sat with nothing on it for years and years in the mid 70s a little interest in the train came back and they started building the track and from our tour they said in 1885 they relaunched this Georgetown train and they've been giving rides ever since and now they do about five rides a day they start at 10 in the morning and they end around 3 30 in the afternoon and this is in the summer season but yeah that's something that kind of came back and I thought that was kind of interesting. Okay the next thing to note is that they have themed rides and so this is a big deal to kind of spice it up I'm sure they're doing this train ride all day every day so they have these themed rides and they have a couple of different types of rides for each season so like in the fall they'll have pumpkin rides and fall foliage rides in the winter I think they have like christmas or santa rides they have beer rides autumn fest sasquatch rides oh that was something to to expect too when you go on the ride is you'll just occasionally see these little easter eggs like well maybe I won't tell you what the easter eggs are okay but just keep your eyes peeled as you go through you might see bigfoot so and a few other things so anyway they have these themed rides so that's something you may be interested in even if you've already been on the train you might want to go again on one of these themed rides or if you're timing your trip up with a one of those themed rides you might like that one thing we didn't do is a mining tour but they offer a few different tours including short tours for those who need accessibility or who might be claustrophobic as well as longer tours underground including haunted tours you can also pan for gold on these tours if you love all things colorado mountain towns or maybe you want to know more about them check out our colorado playlist we've been on this big 10-day trip checking out all these mountain towns and want to share what we learned with you have a great day and until next time go western traveler