Monday, November 13, 2017

On Colorado Day, August 1st, in 1938 a crowd gathered in Antlers Park, Colorado Springs, to dedicate a monument - the retired Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) Steam Locomotive #168 - in honor of the railroads founder, Civil war General William Jackson Palmer, who died in 1909.

Rather than sell the Locomotive for $300 in scrap, officials of the
D&RGW approached the City offering to move it across the street from the train station and erect it in the Park on a set of Palmer's original narrow-gauge rails that were imported from Sheffield, England, and placed them on a bed of marble from the Colorado quarry that produced stone for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Along comes the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TS) that in 1970 formed a heritage railroad partnership operating steam trains between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico.

In March 2015, the City Council of Colorado Springs approved a lease agreement between the City and the C&TS Railroad for the restoration of Steam Locomotive #168 for a new life on tracks it proudly once ran on.






Bernie's Colorado Journeys; learns about Colorado Springs Steam Engine #168 getting a new lease on life





For everything Bernie’s Journeys start at Bernie's Colorado Journeys in the official state web site for Colorado Tourism.
http://www.colorado.com/tours/bernies-colorado-journeys