I’ve had people asking questions about our train ride, so I thought I would answer this way.

The train was a promotional train for Operation Lifesaver.  Operation Lifesaver is an educational program taught on the train to eliminate collisions, deaths, and injuries at highway-rail intersections and on railroad rights-of-way.

The ride is scheduled to take one hour to a destination and one hour back to the load-out zone.  Tickets were free, but you had to hurry to get your name on the list, all four cars were packed with people.  The train loaded and started up the track at 8:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:30 p.m. (the one we rode), and 6:00 p.m. (this one went to Grand Junction.

All but the 6:00 train was scheduled to go to Paonia, Colorado, which took one hour, all trains made it to Paonia, but the afternoon train.  Because we have three large (huge, very big) coal mines just above Paonia in the Somerset area, the afternoon train had to make way for the coal trains.  The coal trains have/had priority.  So the afternoon trains just went to Hotchkiss and sat on the track until the coal train went by.

The passenger cars were all 1940 plush cars, one with a dome.  Everyone wanted to sit in the dome, but no one got to.  All four cars were completely full, 2 to a seat.  On the evening train to Grand Junction, only people enough to fill the dome car rode.  These people had ‘special tickets’.   Next year I want a special ticket!

I, personally, enjoyed the ride.  The train’s top speed was 45 miles an hour, because of the huge grades they had to pull, sometimes slowing to 25 miles an hour.  To get to Hotchkiss from Delta, by car is only 25 minutes.

I travel that road many times a week.  But to be on the train, going through a different area than the highway was really special!

I have always wanted to take a train ride and now I got too.