Although the Colorado Midland Railway stopped running more than a century ago, it still holds a special place in the heart of many Coloradans.
As William Reed, a steam train enthusiast and retired member of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, says, “Our trains are part of our heritage.”
The route and first train service
When construction began in 1883, the Midland was intended to run from Colorado Springs to the mines at Leadville, Aspen and eventually to Salt Lake City.
Local researcher, author and train historian Mel McFarland says, “All of the Eastern railroads were standard gauge, and all the railroads in Colorado at the time were narrow gauge. If you brought anything to Colorado and wanted to take it somewhere else, they’d have to take it off one railroad car and put it on the other, which added to the cost. The idea was to build a railroad across Colorado in standard gauge and solve all of that.”
The Midland’s first regular train service was to Buena Vista, but by August 1887, it was running to Leadville, then west through the Hagerman tunnel, and eventually along the Frying Pan River. By February 1888, the line had reached Aspen.
Construction, expenses, and the end of the line
The Colorado Midland was an impressive feat of engineering through the Rockies, with its ascents and descents resembling a roller coaster. But it was also expensive to run and repair, two factors that would plague the duration of its existence. As McFarland says, “It became expensive because it was out of the ordinary.”
The Hagerman tunnel, with its 1,084-foot wooden trestle, was particularly difficult to operate due to avalanches, steep curves and blizzard conditions. At the time of construction, it was one of the highest tunnels ever built.
But when it started snowing in January 1889 and didn’t stop until April, blizzard after blizzard closed the tunnel for 78 days, leaving trains, crews, passengers and cargo stranded in collapsing snow sheds, and bringing the Midland line to a grinding standstill. Compounded with high operating expenses, the Hagerman tunnel was closed in 1893, and the Busk-Ivanhoe tunnel was built to bypass it.
Commerce and closing
According to Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum’s Curator of History, the Midland made most of its money shipping coal and lumber. Tourism also helped the Midland flourish by offering transportation into the mountains for picnics, photographs, and picking wildflowers.
But after undergoing multiple bankruptcies and changing ownerships, the commencement of the United States Railroad Administration in 1917 led the government to divert trans-Colorado traffic onto the Midland, which was not equipped for the sudden increase in business. Once the government realized this, the traffic was redirected to another route, but the loss of business led the Colorado Midland to ultimately cease operations in 1918. Several segments were sold to the Midland Terminal Railway, and the rest of the line was abandoned with around 350 miles of track scrapped in the 1920s, long before it ever reached Salt Lake City.
McFarland vividly remembers the aftermath of the railways closing, “I grew up in Colorado Springs. … I had tons of neighbors who had worked on the railroad, and lived in houses where Colorado Midland people lived.”
The Colorado Midland lives on
If you’ve ever taken a drive west on Highway 24, then you’ve traversed the same route as the Midland. At the intersection of 21st Street and Highway 24 stands the Ghost Town Museum, which was originally built in 1899 for train maintenance. Starting in Manitou Springs, the five tunnels blasted for track still wait in hollow silence for that shrill cry of the Midlands whistle.
A portion of the old track that connects Manitou Springs to Colorado Springs is still used by bikers and hikers alike. Established in 1991, the Midland Trail is part of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, which encompasses more than 24,000 miles of rail-trails in the U.S.
Though the Midland is from a bygone era, its pioneering path lives on.
For more information on Colorado’s historic railways, visit The Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, Ghost Town Museum, and The Denver Public Library Digital Collection. Or read up on street railways in Colorado Springs’ past.
