Take a Peak - Above the Clouds

Wednesday, July 2

Today, we got up and got going quickly, since our ride on the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Cog Railway was at 10:30. We left about 8:30, which was way early, but we just didn’t know what to expect. We had time again to mill around before the crowds and check out the souvenirs and buy our lunches. (They don’t allow outside food onboard). At 10, we boarded the bus-sized railcars. These Swiss railcars are self-contained units, powered by two Cummins diesel engines mounted underneath the seating area. Bigger units were needed as tourism continued to grow into the 1970’s. The Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway officials went to Swiss Locomotive Works in 1974 with a request for a train which could carry over 200 people. The results were the articulated railcars Nos. 18 and 19. These cars resemble the smaller single units but are joined by a bellows in the middle. A key difference is that they are diesel-hydraulic. Power is provided by a transmission/retarder made by Voith Turbo of Germany, and the diesel engines must idle on the return trip. These units originally came equipped with a TwinDisc transmission and a stand-alone retarder by Voith but these have been replaced with the Voith T211rzze transmission which functions as a transmission going up and a retarder coming down (according to the cograilway.com website).

Manitou and Pike's Peak Cog Railway Depot

One of the railcars getting ready to head up.

Another railcar coming into the depot.

An example of how the Cog system works.

We found ourselves again squeezed into a tight fit of facing seats, and 3 seats in our row. The railcar was packed, so no room to move. A couple from South Carolina was across from us, and there were two smaller (unrelated) children... one seated next to us, and next to the other couple. The entire ride was narrated, although it was hard to see anything on the opposite side of the railcar. The views we could see were pretty impressive, as we worked our way up the 8.9 miles, with grades often as steep as 25%. The day was cloudy and cool, so some of the views were obscured with clouds. Going up through the clouds was a unique experience, though! It looked more like smoke. On the way we saw deer, and waterfalls, and marmots, and even some bighorn sheep!

In the railcar

Bighorn sheep at the top of the hill

When we arrived at the top, I had to make a bee-line for the restroom… there are no restrooms on the train. There was a large gift-shop, as well as food service at the top. At the top, we are wayyyy above the timberline, and the wind was very chilly. They said the temp was 37, with a wind-chill of 29! Brrr!  We looked at the amazing views (what we could see of them with the clouds) and then ate our lunch on the train. We walked around the gift shop some more, and then it was soon time to go. The visit at the top is only about 40 minutes, as the effects of the high altitude (14,110 feet) may start to cause headache or nausea if you are not hydrated well.

Above the clouds. Beautiful, but hard to see anything!

Tony on the edge of the world!

14,110 feet

Proof we were there! (the sun is very bright!)

Looking toward Colorado Springs, we were told.

On the way down, we visited with our row companions, and enjoyed more of the scenery. After we were back to the depot, we headed back to the RV Park, and promptly took a nap. Whew, what a day! Once we got up, we decided to go get the big tank fueled (a lot cheaper here then Breck, $3.66 vs $3.85!), and go to a pizza place we saw as we were headed to the RV Park. I had overheard a local say it was good, so we went to Savelli’s Pizza/Pasta/Subs for dinner.  We had a bit of a wait for the food, but it was excellent Pizza! We had expected we’d have leftovers, but we ate it ALL. It was some of the best pizza I've ever eaten. Not greasy at all!

Afterwards, we headed back to the RV Park. We found we were getting new neighbors at the time, so we had to wait to pull the truck into our site. We just barely fit our truck along with their truck, but we worked together and no harm was done. We had a nice visit with them. They were coming back from Vegas, headed home to South Dakota.

After that, I did a little work  and some of the inside prep for leaving, while Tony dumped the tanks. We head to Breckenridge, tomorrow.

Eileen at Garden of the Gods RV Resort, Colorado Springs, CO