Full itinerary
Wednesday 17 September
Check-in for your daytime flight from Heathrow arriving in Denver late afternoon. After clearing immigration and customs, our Darjeeling Tours Manager will meet you at arrivals and transfer you to your Denver hotel.
Thursday 18 September
After breakfast, we visit the Colorado Railroad Museum at Golden (20 mins drive), with plenty of steam and diesel locomotives, both standard and narrow gauge, to see. Built in 1959, it’s a 15-acre railyard with over 100 historic locomotives, passenger cars, and cabooses. Watch restoration in action at our Roundhouse before visiting the 1880s-replica Depot Museum with rotating exhibits, and an HO model railroad. We’ll spend an hour and a half or so here.
We continue down to the Georgetown Loop Railroad, where we take a train trip over the spindly Devils Gate Bridge with an opportunity to photograph the train on its last run of the day.
We then drive further south for an hour before we stop for an overnight stay in the popular town of Castle Rock where there is an opportunity for you to shop in the American premium outlets and experience the lively bars & restaurants galore. (B)
Friday 19 September
The great American railroad chasing day. Another reason to stop over in this town is to commence the day with the Joint Line. This heads south from Denver and is jointly owned by the two big rail companies in the West – Union Pacific (UP) and BNSF (as successors to the Denver and Rio Grande Western, and the Santa Fe). We can expect to see coal trains - 15,000 tons with three locomotives - all working flat out and heading south.
There are some beautiful photography spots including Palmer Lake where we’ll wait, chase, photograph and repeat for these iron beasts! We then head further south to spend the night at Colorado Springs.
We move on to The Garden of the Gods, with its amazing sandstone rock formations that astoundingly used to form the seabed!
Our favourite restaurant here is an American culinary hotspot overlooking the railway tracks and providing an excellent opportunity to see and photograph the BNSF and UP freight trains passing by. (B)
Saturday 20 September
After breakfast, we take the short journey west to Manitou Springs for a train ride on the newly rebuilt Pikes Peak Cog rack railway up to the summit of Pikes Peak, one of Colorado’s famous “fourteeners” - summits over 14,000 feet. The views from the summit are stupendous in every direction; north, south, east and west. Several different states are visible, and it is possible to see back to Denver, some 70 miles away. Be warned, at 14,000 feet the air is thin, so move slowly, and bring something warm to wear - it’ll be chilly!
A short journey west to Cripple Creek takes us back a century or so. Nestled high in the Rocky Mountains, Cripple Creek was once just a quiet valley where cattle grazed, and the wind whispered through the pines. But everything changed in 1890 when a cowboy named Bob Womack struck gold in the hills. Word spread like wildfire and within months the sleepy hollow transformed into a booming mining town.
Wooden saloons sprang up overnight, their swinging doors welcoming weary prospectors and gamblers alike. The streets buzzed with the clatter of ore carts and the hopeful chatter of men chasing fortune. Steam engines hissed, pickaxes rang against stone, and the scent of dynamite lingered in the crisp mountain air. Cripple Creek wasn’t just a town - it was a promise. A promise of riches, of reinvention, of the American dream carved out of rock and grit.
We’ll ride the afternoon Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge railroad for a 45-minute steam excursion that gives a lovely tour of the mining hills and the history of the town.
We then spend the evening in this distinctive little town and relive its golden era with a hand or two in the casino and enjoy the night! (B)
Sunday 21 September
After our overnight in Cripple Creek we enjoy a relaxed breakfast before heading south to Canon City arriving at the Royal Gorge Railroad for a ride through the Gorge with its famous ‘hanging bridge’ behind an old GM diesel along a famous section of the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. You may wish to enjoy the lavish food and beverage service on board whilst enjoying the unique open-air views of Colorado’s grandest canyon that remain all along the lovely Arkansas river.
Returning back to the Santa Fe Depot we will try our chances at visiting the depot if permitted on the day. In the late afternoon, we will take the long drive towards Antonito via Poncha Springs ready for the next day’s trip. We stop for the night in a small town of Alamosa with a friendly brew pub down the road. (B).
Monday 22 September
A full day out on the Cumbres and Toltec Railway (C&T). Our steam‐hauled train leaves Antonito at 10:00 hrs and runs behind steam over the San Juan mountains to Chama via the fabulous Tanglefoot Curve and Windy Point, over the summit at 10,000 feet. The service halts at midway in Osier station, where we’ll enjoy an original menu from around 25 years ago of New Mexico & Colorado styled buffet lunch (included).
On arrival in Chama, we will have a short transfer to a boutique ranch by the river, where we’ll spend the night.
The town has a small population of 1000 inhabitants with just a handful of eateries & pubs and a gourmet pizzeria (if it’s open!) (B)
Tuesday 23 September
We will spend the morning chasing the eastbound C&T train up the steep track from Chama to Cumbres Pass - the grade is 1 in 25 most of the way - and the loco REALLY works hard! Excellent photo opportunity!
We then head west (130 mi) via Pagosa Springs through the beautiful Western countryside to Durango, our base for the next two nights.
Durango, as a holiday town, has a wide variety of restaurants - including a cheap and cheerful, and very entertaining pizza parlour – as well as massive breweries and pubs, mainly inhabited by the locals who are very chatty, and interested in hearing how ‘foreigners’ view life! (B)
Wednesday 24 September
We hope to have a private tour of the Durango & Silverton’s loco shed and works in the morning with a long‐serving D&S employee.
We then follow the course of the fabled Rio Grande Southern through Dolores where we stop to visit the ‘Galloping Goose’ museum - the Geese were the trademark of this remote line - volunteered by the lovely and friendly people of the Galloping Goose Historical Society. We may also get the opportunity to attend their private luncheon at one of the most attractive garden railways in western America with its newest addition of a working ‘Goose no. 5’ model and a Caboose. All built from scratch by our host for the day, Joe!
We return to Durango for the night with photography opportunities along the way. (B)
Thursday 25 September
Our day out on the most famous of Colorado’s narrow‐gauge lines, the Durango and Silverton (D&S). We’ll book in the rearmost gondola (an open car with a roof) and leave Durango at 09:00 hrs. This gives us the best views as the train traverses the ‘High Line’ way above the Animas River before following the river valley all the way up to Silverton. This is uphill and the best part of the line.
There will be free time to explore the fascinating old mining town of Silverton (you can’t miss the Shady Lady Pub, it’s an experience to have a drink or a meal there). Then, we head 25 mi by road from Silverton to Ouray, one of the most scenic and thrilling routes in the U.S., known as the Million Dollar Highway (part of U.S. Route 550). Towering peaks, deep valleys, waterfalls, and historic mining remnants line this route, stopping at the famous Red Mountain Pass at 11018 ft.
A short distance away is the Ridgeway Railroad Museum, an open-air museum exhibiting the Galloping Goose No. 4 and Motor No. 1: unique rail vehicles used on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad; Cabooses, stock cars, business cars and the Half-Mile Loop Track.
We retire for the day about 30 minutes away in Montrose. (B).
Friday 26 September
We have a day of fabulous scenery. We head east, and visit another of America’s National Parks, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison; 2,000 feet deep and a worthy second only to the Grand Canyon. We will follow the South Rim to the best viewpoints.
We then continue north-west, driving up to the Grand Junction, strategically located between Denver and Moab, Utah where we stop for a break. We’ll spend the night in Grand Junction.
Saturday 27 September
We board the 0953 hrs Amtrak service train from Grand Junction, arriving at Denver Union Station at 1827 hrs, where your journey concludes in the heart of the ‘Mile High City’. We will enjoy dinner in a local Denver restaurant before making the necessary drive up north to Fort Collins (65 mi/1.5 hrs).
Sunday 28 September
We will enjoy a ride on one of Fort Collins vintage streetcars - Birney car number 25 - from the City Park down Mountain Avenue. This is an excellent volunteer‐run project, and the crew are always happy to talk about their vehicle.
This will be the day Union Pacific’s ‘Big Boy’ steam locomotive will be departing from Cheyenne towards Denver. If we are lucky, we will witness the final preparations for its departure. Our plan is to then chase the ‘Big Boy’ 4014. We are awaiting exact schedule from the UP authorities and will base our night in Denver accordingly.
Monday 29 September
After breakfast and packing for departure, we will make our final visit to the Forney Museum with its impressive collection of steam locomotives, historic American cars and many other transport vehicles.
We’ll then venture out to Denver’s Union Station which is worth a photo or two. For our final train ride we take the Light Rail out from Union Station to the airport to check-in by late afternoon for an evening direct flight back to London Heathrow.
Tuesday 30 September
…. Heathrow, where arrival is scheduled for late morning.
Prices: Per Person on twin/double sharing basis.
Ground only price: £ 4,180
Single supplement: £ 890
What’s included:
- Accommodation is generally a mix of hotels and reasonable motels - either a reputable national chain, or individual motels we know well.
- Continental breakfasts are included at most of our accommodations, but otherwise meals are NOT included* (except where stated).
- We include all transport** train rides and excursions as set out in the itinerary.
- Services of an experiences Darjeeling Tours Limited Tour Manager.
- Lots of beautiful scenic drives, train rides, and adventure for the fun seeker!
- Tips, personal and incidental expenses are not included.
* Meals are not included in this tour (except where noted) to allow for flexibility and personal choice. With such a wide variety of reasonably priced dining options and generous American portions, we find it's better to have the flexibility to decide on the day whether a full meal or a snack is preferred. In our experience this approach caters to individual appetites and preferences far better than set hotel buffets. Your tour manager will be more than happy to help with suggestions at mealtimes.
** The tour is being run using a minibus, which will allow flexibility.
Please click on 'download itinerary' button for a PDF file with photos.