Watch VideoTrucking a train down I-25
Ryan Wilson
It's not something you see everyday - a 70-ton steam engine, a tender and a caboose, being hauled by semis down I-25. But that was the scene Wednesday, as the historic equipment was shipped from a railroad track in Georgetown to Canon City.
It's a case of getting the caboose before the engine ... and behind a diesel engine. It took 130 miles, a wrong turn, a right turn, and a brief time stuck between a rock and a light pole.
"There are a hundred things that could happen to it," Royal Gorge Railroad owner Lindsey Ashby said. "I try not to think about that."
But some caring and gentle hands used sledge hammers to remove chains and to get the historic equipment on track. "Try and look at all the angles of it and be sure no one's in the way when it starts to come down the ramp," engineer Tony Gherak said.
Pulling into the Royal Gorge Train Depot is the latest stop in the train's career, from logging in California, to Portland, Oregon, and then to 30 years, touring Georgetown, Colorado.
"Any steam locomotive is a part of history," railroad superintendent Phil Johnson said. "It's also nice for people to have something to look at while they're waiting for the Royal Gorge Rail Train to go."
And as for the 70 ton engine, it eventually showed up a couple hours later, and, after some more delicate work, was restored to its rightful place, in front of the caboose.
The owners say the engine is from the 1920's and is priceless.
