Railfan & Railroad Extra Board
When one of the Ski Train F40s went down, UP used its Rio Grande heritage unit to lead the train in February 2007, heading west at Rocky, Colo.
Tyler Eaton photo
by Steve Patterson/photos as noted
When Union Pacific was building the first Transcontinental Railroad westward from Omaha, Neb., it clipped across the northeast corner of Colorado at Julesburg, bound for its destiny at Promontory, Utah. Hardly two years old, the new city of Denver was terribly upset it wasn’t on the first railroad’s map. So the city leaders incorporated their own railroad to build from Cheyenne, Wyo., down to Denver. Banker David Moffat was selected as treasurer for Denver Pacific, the first railroad building into the state.