The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
We went for a ride on the Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad. It is a little steam-powered four mile long line that follows an old standard gauge rail bed. From what I could tell, none of the rolling stock or other equipment was native to the area but it is a fun little train nonetheless.
One of the engines that hasn’t come out of winter hibernation yet. Behind this engine is another that looks to be undergoing a major overhaul.
Most of the engines on the line come from Mexico.
This engine wasn’t in service today.
The train backing into the station.
Nice old engine that is kept up well.
It is a coal-burning engine.
The little station as we pull away on our trip.
One of the original stations in Cripple Creek is now the district museum.
Looking back at the wye where the train turns around at the end of every run.
Big dark storm clouds on the horizon to the north of Cripple Creek.
A ramshackled collection of buildings.
The blackness started to blot out the sky.
Old shacks.
Heading through a rail cut.
Track gang replacing ties.
Coal smoke from the engine with big tailing piles behind.
Big filled in run across a dry wash. According to the narration on the train, the rock in this cut has fairly high gold content but it is prohibitively expensive to reclaim the gold at this point in time.
An adit on the hillside.
At another wye where we turn around for the trip back to the station. The railroad doesn’t reach Victor. Maybe someday they’ll push it the rest of the way to Cripple Creek’s sister town.
Looking south toward where the Arkansas River flows.
Train picture!
Backing out onto the end of the wye.
No track beyond this point.
End of the line!
Tailing piles from the big strip mine.
Cute little coupler. It looks like the individual cars don’t have any brakes on them.
Big storm cloud.
Cap on a shaft for one of the bigger hard rock mines in the area.
Heading back to Cripple Creek.
The storm is starting to dump some rain north of Cripple Creek.
Onto the wye to back into the station.
Old parts and whatnot.
Boxcar storage.
The Cripple Creek District Museum has a really interesting collection of old artefacts from the heyday of the mines.
Old lightbulbs and other electronic equipment.
Old power meters.
There were many cutting edge technologies used in the mining district.
The old telephone switchboard for the area.
Old mining buckets and such. Some old pelton water wheels, too.
