Looking back to the 1890s, the travel from Colorado Springs was on one of four railroads. The Denver and Rio Grande was built first, in 1871. The second was the Denver and New Orleans built in 1880. The third was the Santa Fe, built in 1887. The fourth was the Colorado Midland, but they did not have their own tracks to Denver.

The Colorado Midland ran trains over the Santa Fe track from Colorado Springs to Denver. The Midland mainly went west from Colorado Springs. In order to serve the number of passengers coming from the east, they went to Denver over the Denver and Rio Grande’s tracks. In 1890 this changed. The Santa Fe bought the Colorado Midland.

The complication was the station the trains left from in Colorado Springs. The Rio Grande station was in the western part of downtown Colorado Springs. The Santa Fe station was on the east side of downtown Colorado Springs. The railroads all went to the same station in Denver. If you were traveling from somewhere like Ute Pass and were going to Denver, you would take the Midland to Colorado Springs. There you would go north on the Rio Grande. When the Midland railroad became a part of the Santa Fe that changed. Your train went to the Santa Fe station and to Denver. This arrangement lasted until about 1915 when the direct service to Denver ended. The Santa Fe’s ownership of the Midland only lasted a couple years.

Eventually the three tracks from Denver became two when the old Denver and New Orleans track was closed. In 1917 another change came when the Federal government took over operating the railroads in World War One. Generally the D&RG tracks became southbound only, and the Santa Fe northbound from Pueblo to Denver. The regular passenger trains ended in the 1960’s. Rumors persist that AMTRAK will connect us to their system.