America’s Most Scenic Train | Leadville Railroad

You are going to have a tough time beating that eight days a week. This is one of the most scenic train rides in America, starting in this historic Colorado mining town and climbing 10 miles past towering mountain peaks, beautiful turquoise lakes, dense groves of golden aspen trees and one of the most breathtaking sweeping panoramas looking down the It was over 140 years ago that this railroad was constructed to haul wealth out of this town but today it is that same railroad that's hauling it back in. This is fantastic. It is all aboard here on the Leadville Railroad to some of the most breathtaking fall colored landscapes you've ever seen. Let's begin. Leadville, Colorado. It's a historic mining and railroad town tucked between some of the tallest mountains in the state here at over 10,000 feet above sea level. And it's difficult to comprehend, but at its peak, over one century ago, nearly 50,000 people flooded into the valley below and called Leadville home. And that concludes the notorious, the unsinkable, Molly Brown, who was played by Kathy Bates in the Titanic. God himself could not sink this ship. Pretty cool, huh? Today, Leadville has dwindled to just shy of 3,000 year-round residents, but this remote mountain town was actually only two votes away From becoming the capital of Colorado itself, before Denver was ultimately selected instead. It's an almost picture-perfect fall morning here in Leadville, and as the sun began to illuminate the surrounding mountains and valley in between, setting the stage for one of the most scenic train rides anywhere in the country. So good morning from the highest elevation town in the entire United States of Leadville, Colorado. And home to just shy of 3,000 year-round residents. The two tallest peaks in the entire state, including Mount Massive. I absolutely love the originality behind that. But most importantly, what is not just one of the most scenic railroads in the entire state of Colorado, but what is regarded as one of the most scenic in the entire United States, that being the Leadville, Colorado, and Southern Railroad. And if what I'm about to see and experience today is half as good as what I saw online last week that made me rewrite my entire schedule to come down here this morning and ride, I am absolutely in for a treat and going to be spoiled and I'm riding it this morning. And following a very much needed pick-me-up first thing in the morning with a quick espresso stop here in town, I'd head inside the 1893 built Leadville train station and grab my ticket. But outside the station rests what I think actually holds the Guinness World Record for being the highest elevation lawn ornament anywhere in the country. This is engine 641. She was built in 1906 by the Alco Locomotive Works and spent 56 years roaming these very mountains for the Colorado and Southern Railroad. Of course you should never ask a lady about her weight but this girl tips the scales at roughly 193,000 pounds and packs 42,000 pounds of pulling power. She was the last steam engine to ever run in Leadville and following her retirement in 1962 She was donated to the city, Placed on permanent display and eventually welded to the rails where she remains today, and boy oh boy, as a bit of a foamer myself, that is a good looking locomotive. And that beautiful red snowplow, I love a good snowplow, the sexy white trim on the driver wheels and that beautiful Mikado design. With Leadville Railroad you get this one up and running, my goodness wouldn't that be a treat. Now unfortunately 641 will not be running anytime soon But this train certainly will. And tell me that these burgundy and green colored coaches don't just look fantastic. I mean, it's almost like they're a Colorado avalanche themed colored consist. I think they look great. And so I would climb aboard, settle in my coach class settlements, where seating is also first come, first served. And what better place to take in the elements than the open air observation car. And with views overlooking some of the highest peaks, the Colorado Rockies, And no shortage of fall foliage ahead. I got a feeling this seat is going to be really tough to beat. All right, so this is coach class. Open air. Lots of vitamin D ahead. And at 10 a.m. sharp, we'll take our first strides in our 21-mile round-trip journey, beginning our climb up the roughly 2% graded track ahead. Our conductor, Kyle, will come through the train and punch my ticket. Smile like this. Thank you very much, guys. Appreciate it. As we roll past the cute little houses lining the tracks, plenty of locals waving us off and everybody seems so friendly here, as well as the Leadville shops where the railroad does all their maintenance to keep this very train excursion running and towering above everything are Mount Elbert and Mount Massive, the two enormous 14ers. Those are two mountains rising more than 14,000 feet above sea level, framing the horizon so beautifully. And of course the first of many dense displays of golden aspen trees awaiting us ahead. It's crazy, we're just barely out of town and the fall colors are just starting to dominate the beautiful mountains. It's literally like a Toy Story cloud kind of day. You couldn't picture it any better if you were Pixar yourself. Now I'm riding here in the middle of September, just a few days before actually. And while that may seem a bit early for the peak of fall colors, Because at this elevation, The leaves actually start turning at the highest elevations here roughly around mid-September due to the more dramatic daytime highs and the nighttime lows. And that triggers the aspens to stop producing chlorophyll earlier, which is the green pigment that makes leaves green. And thus beginning incredible fall colors that we all love. Seeing individual trees turn yellow in the city is one thing, but seeing an entire mountainside covered in aspen gold is something completely different. Now there really isn't a lot on the Leadville Railroad online but to really appreciate this route you have to understand why it exists in the first place. This route that we're tracing today dates back to the Silver Discovery in 1879 that transformed Leadville into one of the greatest boom towns of the old American West. From there it was less than five years later that the Union Pacific's subsidiary railroad, the Denver South Park and Pacific, would construct a 150 mile narrow gauge track extending from Denver over the Continental Divide and here into Leadville to extract the minerals in the very mountains that were rolling past. Now they would go into bankruptcy only five years later in 1889 and absorb into the Colorado and Southern Railroad. And that Colorado and Southern would end up getting bought out by the CBQ, that is the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1908. And these very tracks would operate under CBQ until the 1980s when Leadville's last mine closed for good. Now abandoning the tracks was set to follow shortly after, but that wasn't until the state of Colorado stepped in and they forbid it. And so in 1987, This line was sold for just $10 to a local businessman named Ken Olsen. And while Ken may have gotten the steal of a century, because that $10 in 1987 is probably worth about $100 today, while the resource-rich minerals are long gone and the mines have long since closed, today it is this same railroad built to haul wealth out of Leadville that is bringing it back in, with tourists coming to experience one of the most scenic train rides anywhere in the country. And that includes here. At the Bird's Eye Gulch. The Bird's Eye Gulch is a curve that is so sharp that we will be able to see the front end locomotives as well as the back end caboose in the same view. And the reason this curve is so sharp was because that while this route was being built it was built narrow gauge. Now narrow gauge was typically used in more difficult terrain as the three foot gauge could take corners that the four foot standard gauge just simply couldn't. But with narrow gauge it also made the scenery a lot more scenic. And while the entire railroad was eventually converted to standard gauge in 1943, like the rest of the United States railroads, this curve was never reduced, leaving us with one of the sharpest standard grade curves anywhere in America. You wouldn't think it, but just gorgeous, literally aspen colored aspen trees. And I mean, look at, how do you beat that? By this point there is a fresh air scent rolling through the cars that you just have to experience to believe. I mean it is so fresh, it's so aromatic, it's so peaceful. And while we will continue snaking our way up the mountain, up the edges of Mount Arkansas specifically, the view awaiting me around this corner was about to leave me absolutely speechless. This is the Arkansas River Valley and I mean look at this. This panorama stretches for miles across the valley floor. With Mount Massive framed almost perfectly between the mountain sides. And while this view was very short-lived and would disappear beneath a dense patch of golden aspen trees, it was only a few moments later that we would emerge onto a sweeping vista even better than the last. Now with Mount Elbert slowly beginning to overshadow Mount Massive, which is that pyramid-shaped mountain well off in the distance. And don't get me wrong, while I was 100% regretting not putting on sunscreen this morning, As I completely underestimated how strong the sun would be despite the cool fall temperatures, I was not regretting rerouting my entire plans to come down here and ride this train this morning. I mean every time we'd negotiate a curve around the bend, a new grove of aspens, seemingly more golden than the previous, would take their place. The entire train has gone dead silent. So we've stopped here at the top of the pass just outside of the Climax Mine. This is as far as the tracks go and then we will reverse. Back into the Baker's Water Tower, down there. Oh my god this is fantastic and this will be our halfway stop of the day for about 15-20 minutes before we make our way back down to Leadville. So this is the Baker's Water Tower and remember Leadville's biggest lawn ornament, Engine 641? Well this is the very water tower where she would have stopped off for a drink continuing her climb up to the Climax Mine at the Continental Divide. which over its lifetime mined over 250 million ounces of silver from the very mountains ahead of us back in a time when the US dollar was actually not just backed by gold but also by silver and although those days are long gone the Baker's Water Tower remains and today is our halfway stop and while it may not look like much these fall colors really bring to life i'm going to be honest i am absolutely surprised I thought coming mid-September, this is way too early, there's no way I get any yellows at all and turns out this is the peak when you couple the dry winter that the state of Colorado's had plus the high elevation. The staff are saying this week is literally the peak, it doesn't get any better than this and wow. Keep in mind, I haven't ridden every train but this is definitely up there for the most scenic train ride in the entire state of Colorado and America but I'm working on riding all of them so I'll give you a decision at a later point in time. From here, our conductor Kyle Kyle would make the all aboard call, we'd re-board. and begin our 10 mile return trip back into Leadville, descending down the slopes of Mount Arkansas just west of the Continental Divide here at Fremont Pass. And if you're enjoying this journey so far hit the subscribe button or become a channel member for 99 cents. You get access to all my videos early and help support future adventures like this as all my videos are completely self-funded. I'll put a link in the video description back to the video. How does it get any better than that? As we descend down the mountain If you look closely, you'll actually see the outline of railway tracks along the valley floor, and that there is the old Denver and Rio Grande tracks. The Rio Grande had track rights through the valley floor, so the Denver, South Park and Pacific route was legally required to stay at least 700 meters away from the Rio Grande line at all times. And to accomplish that, they would carve a shelf into the rock above and spike a rail bed through it, high above the valley floor below, and that is how this line earned the nickname The High Line. You know just that cool alpine mountain breeze coming in through the cars, smell the pines, beautiful scenery, dense yellows and asp, my goodness. This has, this has exceeded my expectations so far. I think that's the part that I enjoyed the most about this experience. It's that the Leadville Railroad is a genuine disconnect from the craziness of the world that we all seem to be living through and going through landscapes and scenery That really hasn't changed much since these very tracks were spiked down in the late 19th century and back to a time when the west was young. I also want to give a shout out to Jake. He is a father sitting just a few seats over from me and he brought his two sons with him and first off I just love seeing a good father-son duo. I know my dad would have absolutely loved to do this train ride with me so seeing another father and son duo, appreciating it, enjoying it, I thought was so special to see. And he was also reminding his boys, put the phone down, disconnect, get in touch with nature. It is just such a beautiful thing. And on top of the amazing conversations that I got to share with you guys, Jake, I hope you and your boys enjoyed this train ride just as much as I did. And the train is also dog friendly. So if you want to bring your pooch, you absolutely can. What a ride, what an experience on the Leadville, Colorado and Southern. Now, sadly, all good things do come to an end. As the wilderness. seemingly releases us back into the town of Leadville as the golden glow of the Arkansas river valley begins to disappear behind us and the towering mountains come back into view the little houses and buildings once again begin lining the tracks beside us calling it close to one of the most scenic train rides in the country at 12:40 p.m. sharp two and a half hours after it began wow just wow get those windows down that sun is hot See you later, steam engine. You're awesome. Leadville, what a spot. Now, maybe you're thinking, Travis, why would I want to take a two and a half hour train ride through scenery that I can just drive in 20 minutes? That is the point. That is the magic of the railroad. You can sit back, actually relax, and enjoy it. I mean, the Leadville Railroad is just such an incredible reminder of how great the world can be when you disconnect from the madness, take in the natural beauty that we're surrounded by, And socialize with other people that feel the same way. Getting in touch with nature and the very history that built everything that we have. It really is an incredible portal to the past. And plus, I think the drive itself that gets you into Leadville will leave you absolutely speechless, just like it did for me. You know, if you were to ask me, how do you make that excursion better? How would you enhance it? I would honestly struggle. Maybe restoring the steam engine outside, making this a steam-powered excursion. But outside of that, hands down one of the Most hidden gem train excursions in the country. There's almost nothing of it on YouTube. I saw an Instagram video the other day and said, I'm coming down here. And seven days later, here we are. So I don't know if I can say it's the most scenic railroad I've ridden because I haven't ridden every single one yet. And I am working on it. But this is hands down worth the money, worth the time, worth the drive. But you are still watching. So clearly you have come for the trains and you have stayed for the Travis, yours truly. So why not hit the subscribe button? Because I do brand new videos just like this every single Sunday on the greatest, amazing steam trains, sleeper trains, scenic trains, luxury hotels, anything and everything cool I can get my hands on in between. And we do it at the same time, same place every single Sunday. And I'd love to have you there with me. Including next week, where I'm taking America's most scenic train, the California Zephyr. Starting at Denver's historic Union Station and ending in Salt Lake City at their beautiful Union Pacific Depot that has been converted into this jaw-dropping Marriott luxury hotel. And along the way, I will show you some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the country, from the Rocky Mountains, to the fall colors at the Continental Divide, the burnt orange vistas and Mars-like red rocks, canyon after canyon, and a sunset for the ages, all of that and more, coming up next week. So hit the subscribe button so you don't miss that, or any of my upcoming train adventures in the future. You just don't. I want to say thank you so much for watching, and if you have a video that you want to see me make in the future, leave it in the comments below, because comments like that turn into videos like this a lot more often than you'd think. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you next week in Denver.