| Sometimes as we travel around we feel that we are very much the
poor relation. We stayed on a very posh site in Golden, just outside Denver, and found a
predominance of big Class As. This shot was taken at 0900hrs. The RV was a
42ft twin rear axle diesel pusher with a tow car. The TV is large and
coupled with a complete home cinema kit - and that's only the outside one.
This was at least a cool half million - how the other half live. And the
number plates on the similar rig next door, RRANCH1 and RRANCH2. |  |
 | In Golden we found
the Colorado Railroad Museum on a 14 acre mostly outdoor site and full of old
trains from the Denver and Rio Grande Western and other local railroads. I
found a true geeks' book in the shop (I didn't buy it at $50) - 200 A4 sized
pages listing all the railroads in the US. There were thousands! |
| This early diesel pair (streamlined F9s) were the height of
fashion when they first hauled trains in 1955. They had passenger trains in
those days. These had been partially restored but still showed some signs of
age. In their day they travelled over two million miles pulling named trains
such as the Californian Zephyr, before being retired in 1984. Each unit
generated 1750HP making them slightly less powerful than their early English
counterparts. |  |
 | This diesel
switcher originally belonged to the Coors brewery which has a huge plant
just across the valley and dominates the town of Golden. |
| There were many small temporary railways built to support logging
operations all over this area. A particular type of locomotive called a Shay
was developed to support these. This is a large example. The power was
transmitted to a longitudinal shaft which drove cog wheels on each axle.
This enabled them to negotiate much steeper gradients than most locomotives.
It also made the centre of gravity very low which helped stability on the
poor track. |  |
 | The museum had
quite a collection of early freight cars most of which were in relatively
cared-for condition. A leaflet gave details of each one if you were a true
railroad history buff.. |
| There was a large HO model railroad in the museum which was
started in 1946 and runs trains for the kids. Outside there were several
tracks for larger gauge trains and some quite decent modelling in O gauge
scale. |  |
 | Every train had a
caboose and thousands still exist today. Almost every town has one business
utilising the body from one with or without chassis. However modern trains
no longer have them at all. |
| This was one of the key exhibits and is still in use hauling
passengers around the circular track surrounding the site. It is a 2-8-0 and
was built in 1890 to haul trains between Denver and Salt Lake City. It is
the only surviving D&RGW standard gauge steam locomotive. The cowcatcher and
large headlight are very characteristic of US loco design in this era. The
bulbous smokecatcher chimneys belong to an earlier era. |  |
 | We travelled on
this railway earlier in our journey in Manitou Springs. Today you travel in
a diesel hauled unit but this was one of the original steam engines. This
was a cog railway similar to that on Snowdon and rose at about 1 in 25. The
shot from the other side shows the angle better but was too much in the
shade. |
| And so onward the few miles to Denver. Although you think of
American cities consisting of skyscrapers, this is about all of them for
Denver and that is not unusual. We came down a long steep hill to get from
the Rockies to Golden,
falling from 8000ft to 5500ft. Denver itself is known as the 'Mile High City'. |  |
 | Every big US city
has an enormous stadium dominating the skyline. It was very difficult to get
a photograph because it was just so wide. I guess this was the home of the
Denver Broncos. |
| We would have liked to spend time in Denver and visit interesting
places like the US Mint. It used to do tours but 9/11 made it much more
difficult. Now you have to be there at 0700hrs to have a chance of getting
on the 20 minute tour. Parking a 32ft vehicle in a big city is a major
problem. You really need to travel in on something smaller. And since the
scooter has a small brake problem we had to give it a miss. But we will come
back.
This is a typical view from the RV as we travel the freeways through
metropolitan areas. VERY confusing! |  |
 | But once out of the
city we were back to views like this for the 150 miles to the
Colorado/Nebraska border. This is Interstate 76, mostly surfaced in concrete
which is laid in small pads and a dreadful surface to drive on. Each of the horizontal lines is a
crack which may or may not be filled with tar. It certainly creates a ridge
which thumps the suspension and drives you nuts as it attempts to shake the
camper to bits. Only 1500 miles of Interstate to Buffalo.... |
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