Winter Park (Colorado) Express is back

[Willbridge]

What was that UP car doing in the consist in the second photo, trailing the 5771?

You've got me on this (as I wasn't in Denver back then). There often have been Denver <> West Coast mail storage cars on the UP, so perhaps there was some sort of disruption on the Overland Route.

We mostly would get interline mail and express cars in Portland that came from the Pennsy.

 

[railiner]

You've got me on this (as I wasn't in Denver back then). There often have been Denver <> West Coast mail storage cars on the UP, so perhaps there was some sort of disruption on the Overland Route.

We mostly would get interline mail and express cars in Portland that came from the Pennsy.

Might have been something simpler, like a short term lease?

 

[River in Sight]

I read an update on service plans for this winter (press release):

• Service is now 5 days a week
• Tickets start at $19 (instead of $59)
• The train will stop at both Winter Park Resort, and Winter Park-Fraser
• Another article I saw said there will be two additional coaches in the consist, increasing capacity

I took this train last winter and enjoyed it, although for a family of three it was fairly expensive at $59 a head each way. This seems like a good group of improvements for this winter.

 

[Willbridge]

They've got the public information on the website already. With a calendar error:
https://www.amtrak.com/winterparkexpress

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/ne...s-sales-expanded-holiday-winter-season-trips/

https://gazette.com/life/skiing-sno...cle_fbda98f0-9fc8-5039-9248-ba684860d00a.html (bypass paywall).

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...r-park-express-ski-train-expands-dates-route/

The local Fraser paper explains how the service is being expanded:
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/trai...cheaper-tickets-expanded-service-this-season/

Tourism wheels are turning. This is going to be a great experiment. The tourism people in Denver have gradually caught on that people fly into DEN, book hotel rooms "to adjust to the altitude" and take the train to ski. Now that's being promoted.
https://www.denver.org/articles/pos...25-winter-season-including-the-2024-december/