To Shiny Rails

My wife and I recently visited the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO for the first time. We had a great couple of hours, including a 15-minute train ride. They’ve got quite a collection of full-scale historical equipment. All the day’s photos are here.

My sister Vickie and I played disc golf at Palmer Lake this afternoon. The course is also known as “Rockin’ the Rails” because the “front nine” go right alongside the railroad (BNSF/UPRR) right-of-way from north of the pedestrian bridge over the tracks on the mountain side of the tracks (holes 1 and 2) to south of the bridge and east of the tracks (holes 3-9). The “back nine” are closer to the lake. Had we been stronger disc throwers there would definitely have been a concern about discs going into the railroad right-of-way. We almost finished the 9th hole before the weather drove us off the course (rain, cold, windy). Here’s a big clue for newbies on this course: the 7th basket is back toward the bridge from the 7th tee. We went the other way, quite a ways, to find nothing. The 8th basket is buried in very high, thick bushes. If you happen to be a railfan as well as a disc golf player, you’ll love this course. If you’re there a couple hours, odds are a train will come through.

Here are a few pics from the January TECO Model Train Show that Matteo and I attended at the Colorado Springs Events Center.

We took our California visitors over New Year’s weekend to the top of Pikes Peak via the BROADMOOR Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway. First time on the total rebuild of the system. Took several years and about $100 million. As it turned out, we road on one of the cars that remains in the stable from pre-rebuild days. All the photos start here.

I took Matteo and AJ to Big Train Family Restaurant after church and then on to the TECO Train Show at the Chapel Hills Mall Event Center. What a hoot! There were plenty of fabulous layouts and AJ really got into the scavenger hunt they provided to help the younger ones focus on layout details. The Rocky Mountain Railroad Heritage Society had a booth there, too.

Big day! Off to the Georgetown Loop Railroad to meet up with the Visalia (CA) cousins for a train ride. What a hoot! Lynn had been trying to tell me that we were there (family reunion) with my parents, sister, her kids, and our own very young children way back when, but absolutely nothing was coming to mind. Even when we got there nothing seemed in the least familiar. Until we got to Silver Plume, the other end of the rail line. And there was the yard where we walked along the rails! Looked exactly like a scene in my mind that I could not place. We were here almost exactly 30 years ago! After the train ride, we went to downtown, historic Georgetown to stroll around a little, had some ice cream (eat dessert first!), and had lunch at Cooper’s on the Creek. All the day’s photos are here.