Georgetown Railroad at Devil's Gate
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Georgetown Railroad at Devil's Gate
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture And Enhancement
Description
The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a 3 foot narrow gauge heritage railroad located in the Colorado's Rocky Mountains in Clear Creek County in the United States. The railroad operates summer tourist trains between the communities of Georgetown and Silver Plume, a distance of 2 miles. The railroad route is 4.5 miles long and ascends an elevation of 640 feet through some beautiful mountainous terrain along with trestles, cuts, fills, and a grand loop
The Railroad was one of Colorado's first visitor attractions. This spectacular stretch of narrow gauge railroad was completed in 1884 and considered an engineering marvel for its time. The thriving mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume lie 2 miles apart in the steep, narrow Clear Creek canyon in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver. Engineers designed a corkscrew route that traveled nearly twice that distance to connect the two towns, slowly gaining more than 600 feet in elevation. The route included horseshoe curves, 4% grades and bridges across Clear Creek, including the massive Devil's Gate High Bridge.
The Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railroad had been formed in 1881 under Union Pacific Railroad ownership. The Loop portion of the line was the crowning segment of the line, crossing the top of the gorge on a 95-foot high trestle called the Devil's Gate.
Originally part of the larger line of the Colorado Central Railroad constructed in the 1870's and 1880's, in the wake of the Colorado Gold Rush, this line was also used extensively during the silver boom of the 1880's to haul silver ore from the mines at Silver Plume. In 1893, the Colorado and Southern Railway took over the line and operated it for passengers and freight until 1938.
Some digital effects were applied to this original image after the photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during the transition. Ordered images will not contain the FAA watermark.
Image copyright 2016 Jon Burch Photography all rights reserved.
Uploaded
August 10th, 2016
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Viewed 676 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 8:59 PM
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