Winter Park Express! AKA: Ski Train

iPhone snap shots

Hey I didn't crack the lens

Bob Hiller of Hiller Enterprises. http://hillerenterprises.com/ A seasoned rail fan and good friend. He's an amazing guy!

I got to try out my new Diamond Tri-band antenna !

It was a busy weekend on the Moffat Road 

 

Time for the real captures .

(c) Erik C Lindgren

http://www.rrpicturearchives.n...Thumbs.aspx?id=70400

Great shots Erik . Thanks for posting.

  I missed it going pass my house ,I was in Cheyenne all weekend.

Very cool pictures indeed.  Thanks for posting.

 

Any word/rumors if the Ski Train will ever become a regular excursion again?

 

I used to make it out to Summit County, Colorado for a ski week once a year but haven't been able to do so recently.  I really miss it.  Winter in the Rockies is magical. 

 

Then again, so is every season in the Rockies.

not a lot of snow in those parts, glad I ski in the east!

 

I'm happy you guys enjoyed the images.

I don't know if they will operate the train again or not permanently. This was a test or commemorative 75th year event.

As far as snow we've had feet in the last month up in the hills. In Colorado the snow has a tendency to evaporate; melt off and not hang out except up in the timber line. We did have a mild weekend in the 70's on the front range. It was 30's up at Tolland.

I have many more in time I will add them. Lucky - oh look there it is as we returned down 72... Pace video! Yeah I know it's an iPhone shoot out the window. I had already put the gear away in the back.

My wife took these; the little fella is getting exposed to train spotting early.

Just goofing around with the video.

For me it's about having fun.

Nice photos & videos.

Thank you Spence

Thanks for the vids Erik. I saw the 2nd unit with the logo, but couldn't make out what it was when it went by. Too bad the insurance costs killed the private Ski Train.

A great set of photos Erik, thanks for posting. Never too early to expose the kids to the wonderful world of trains.

Erik - How did you get on that side (south) of the tracks at the tunnel?

 

When I lived there in the 70's, I used to drive over Rollins Pass.  It's a shame that bridges and tunnels collapsed, making the trip impossible by car.  It was hard to believe that they operated trains over the pass while building the tunnel.

 

One of my very favorite places.  I usually drive up there every Colorado trip.   Thanks for the memories!

 

Great videos, and great shoots!! Love it !! 

Thanks guys and gals.

I do miss the original Ski Train. From what I was told by Bob Hiller a member of Colorado Rail Group the director of the new Ski Train named it after his grand son's interest in the "Polar Express". The name "Ski Train" is a copyright of the Anschutz Foundation and Amtrak cannot use it. The Winter Park Express will go on now as the Ski Train. The crews and dispatch still call it "Ski Train"

These are a few shots I took of the original Ski Train some of these are 10 years old.

Really great pictures...Breath taking!!! 

Kansas, once Wilson McCarthy often makes appearances on other trains today. It was a regular on its owner's "Ski Train".

Stacy wrote:

"Really great pictures...Breath taking!!!"

       


I'm blushing. 

hahahaha, lol . Well im a photographer as well, so i love looking at photos like these  

       
       


Moffat goes past my place also. There really is not a good place to photo Moffat in town except that curve by Arvada Crossing or Leyden. I feel if your going to photograph the Ski Train-- ahhemm I mean the "Winter Park Express" it must without fail be shot in mountainous territory among its natural habitat.

Shooting fish in a barrel is not for me. Anyone can shoot in a yard or along a rail crossing. One must venture beyond her or his comfort zone and go forth and hike that extra 3 miles for that one shot that makes the whole event worthwhile!

       
       


I would love to see your photos too. I learn a lot from seeing what others do. Thank you for your kind words. I'm very flattered.

Awesome, id love to share them.. but just warning im a portrait/glamour photographer. So seeing this trains takes my breath away.. Im used to working with people all the time, and stuff like this is just awesome to me!! 

 

Great videos, Eric, thanks for sharing them.  It looks like you had a nice sunny day to be outside (as opposed to where I am in cloudy upstate NY).  And I'm glad that you're getting the little fella into trains at a young age. He looks like he was enjoying himself.  

seeing these Ski... er Winter Park train photos reminds me of my trips to Winter Park to ski, and how I always wanted to arrive by train. Thanks Erik.

 

So, were you inspired by the movie Napoleon Dynamite? 

Glamour Shots by Deb!! hahahhah classic

I got the next batch off the computer.

This one is a clunker but still pretty. Rejected at the rail pictures. Haha

David Moffat, from his roll top desk in the little bank in Colorado Springs, managed to

punch a really big hole in a mountain, and annoy a once large and powerful railroad,

the D&RGW.   When I and my brother drove up to the first Rollins Pass tunnel at the east portal, it was collapsed then, and that was quite some years ago.

A M A Z I N G!!! Those are some great photos.

Excellent photos & videos to tell the story.

• Cheers from Michigan

 

Glad you liked them fellas. It was actually a high degree of work. As any of you can attest; it's not stepping out of your car at a crossing a point- click. Planning; scouting locations (takes years in some cases to explore and learn the light at different times of the day). Over 75% or more of my captures I consider failures. In this case the dark windshield area of the AMD units is a total pain in the you know what; add that bright silver side.. Ugh. Moffat is tough to shoot anytime outside early morning or late evening. The contrast is so high during the rest of the daylight hours. And summers are the worst. That midday high altitude sun will bleach out any image. Color saturation; depth of field is toast..

I don't Submit for publishing and do it solely for the purpose of reference for possible artwork in the future and a hobby. I'm thinking an original Ski Train subject using my photos and models to back date to the 1960's or 1970's.

Off my soap box.

Thanks guys I do thank you for the kind compliments. It means a lot. Keeps me going back.


Number 6 eastbound California Zephyr at Sand Creek Junction near Commerce City, Colorado, Fall 2014. The background in this case is a feast for the eyes; Suncor refinery adds an impressive busy vertical element framed by the poles neatly around the horizontal streamliner stretching out of view. The low evening light softened the tones and contrast.
Weather; it was cold and dangerous on 72 the morning of the chase.

You simply can not ignore the stunning scenery and anytime you can mix steam and snow capped mountains; heavenly! Worth the hike!

Something to ponder, Erik:  Any chance of touching base with someone at Winter Park and seeing how possible it would be to get the "Ski Train" running again?  Maybe coordinate a Season or Weekends Only pass for Train riders?

 

Could riders somehow get to resorts other than Winter Park when the train was running regularly?  (Shuttle to and from the station/drop off perhaps?)  Could the Train take riders to the Airport as well?