Willoughby: The magic of steam engines

Real trains were a major mode of transportation for my parents. Many boys in my generation spent hours engaged with model trains. The next generation was mildly connected to them. More recently, popular toy trains were tied to the Thomas and Friends television series.

Aspen in my youth still benefited from Denver & Rio Grande freight service. The depot, while not operating as such, was still there near where the library is now. The tracks ended upstream from there. We walked the tracks and creeped over the trestle that crossed the Roaring Fork, hoping a train wasn’t coming. As a child, one of the more significant attributes was the sheer size of the engine and freight cars. Some of our model trains had modern engines, but for many, the older steam engines prevailed with cowcatchers on the front and tall smokestacks.

Colorado still has train lines with steam engines that date back to the mining era. The two major ones are the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad that runs between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico. These are scenic routes, but riding them gives you an experience that takes you back to a previous century. Unlike a speedy car trip, you travel at the mountain steam engine speed where you notice more but also understand what it was like to travel in those days.

Being on those trains, or just standing by them before they leave, you experience steam-engine travel. The engine hissing sounds, chuck-chuck noise, and the unique sound of their whistles dominate. On the train, you realize that the ride is bumpier, and you can smell the smokestack fumes and experience clouds of steam vaporization. 

If you have ridden one of those trains, you understand what it was like to travel to Aspen on a similar train. Today, we forget that Aspen had tourists in the mining era, and others like salesmen would have enjoyed the journey. The Midland Railroad even had spring wildflower excursions. Journeying from Denver or Colorado Springs on either the Midland or the D&RG were scenic travel, with breathtaking views.

Even limiting highlights to the Midland and on this side of the mountains, in the context of steam engine travel, the slower speed journey would have had you glued to the windows. Today, we sped through the I-70 tunnel between Georgetown and Dillon. The Midland had a long tunnel for the same purpose going through the mountains between the Leadville area to the Fryingpan Valley. It would have been dark in the passenger cars, it would have been a long time underground — much like being in a mining tunnel, and the smell of the engine smoke might have made you cough and wheeze.

When you emerged, you traversed miles of the scenic Fryingpan all the way to Basalt. Imagine viewing the river in the spring, this before there was a dam holding back spring whitewater.

From there to Aspen, if you were on the D&RG, you were close to the river, but the Midland route later became Highway 82. But back then, there were only ranches where the only signs of humans would have been people working the fields, on horseback, or perched on wagons moving at an even slower pace than the train. I am speculating here, but I would bet they would be waving to you.

In the last stage, you crossed two narrow trestles, one over Maroon Creek and the other over Castle Creek. At that speed, you would have been enjoying the view up those valleys seeing Pyramid Peak giving you that sense of being high in the Rockies. You would also have looked down to the river and maybe have been petrified realizing how high you were perched above the river.

Entering Aspen would have also been spectacular as you traveled at the base of Aspen Mountain viewing the cottonwood tree-lined streets with spectacular Victorian homes. Then you came to a stop at the Midland Depot near Wagner Park, in the heart of the downtown business district.

Some came to vacation in the mountains. Others were attracted by the fishing opportunities. Getting there would have been an important enjoyable journey — one they would brag about when they got home.

Tim Willoughby’s family story parallels Aspen’s. He began sharing folklore while teaching at Aspen Country Day School and Colorado Mountain College. Now a tourist in his native town, he views it with historical perspective. Reach him at redmtn2@comcast.net.