Winter Park Express
Ski Train at Denver Union Station in 2003
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|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | Regional rail |
| Status | Active |
| Locale | Colorado |
| Predecessor | Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad |
| First service | 1940 |
| Current operator(s) | Amtrak |
| Website | Winter Park Express |
| Route | |
| Start | Union Station (Denver) |
| End | Winter Park Resort |
| Distance travelled | 56 miles (90 km) |
| Average journey time | 2 hours, 15 minutes |
| Service frequency | Weekends from January 7th - March 26th |
| Line used | Union Pacific Central Corridor |
| On-board services | |
| Class(es) | Coach, Club, Private |
| Catering facilities | Cafe Lounge |
| Observation facilities | Vista dome |
| Technical | |
| Three EMD F40PH locomotives Eight Coach cars One Retreat car Three Club cars Two Cafe Lounge cars |
|
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
The Ski Train is a passenger train operated in Colorado, providing weekend service between Denver Union Station and Winter Park Resort.
Originally opened in 1940, the Ski Train offered winter passenger service between Denver's Union Station and the Denver-owned Winter Park ski resort from 1940 to 2009 and was operated initially by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The operation was sold in 1988 to the Ansco Investment Company, which made various needed improvements and ran the “New Ski Train” for two decades before shutting the operation in 2009. An attempt that same year by Iowa Pacific Holdings to purchase and run the Ski Train fell through. In March 2015, a collaboration of Amtrak, Winter Park Resort and Union Pacific Railroad announced a special one-day-only "Winter Park Express" ski train to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Winter Park. Seats sold out quickly and, when three additional weekend day trips were added, they also sold out in short order. In August 2016, Amtrak and its partners announced regular Winter Park Express weekend service from January through March 2017. After a successful first season, expanded service was announced for the 2017/2018 season, including first-Friday round trips and lower ticket prices for some departures.
The train was instituted by the railroad in 1940 and ran from Union Station in Denver, Colorado for 56 miles (90 km) to the ski resort town of Winter Park, Colorado. The train's scenic route left Union Station and traveled through northwest suburban Denver. At least during the early 1970s, the train made a stop in the Rocky Flats area east of the foothills before starting the 4,000 feet (1,200 m) mountain climb via a series of 29 tunnels - the "Tunnel District" - through the Plainview, Crescent, Wondervu and Gross Reservoir areas, then generally west along South Boulder Creek through Pinecliffe, Tolland and Rollinsville to the final mountain underpass, the 6.2-mile (10.0 km) long Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide. This is the highest railroad tunnel in the United States and the third longest, after the Cascade Tunnel in Washington state and the Flathead Tunnel in Montana.
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