History comes alive with every foot of elevation gain as you ride the Cog Railway up to the top of Pikes Peak. If 9 miles of hiking to the top of Pikes Peak sounds daunting, and the thought of driving on a gravel and dirt road with sheer cliff drop offs has you white knuckling your steering wheel, then the Cog train is for you! Conventional railroads use the friction of wheels upon the rails, called “adhesion”, to provide locomotive power. A cog, or rack, railroad uses a gear, “cog wheel”, meshing into a special rack rail (mounted in the middle between the outer rails) to climb much steeper grades than those possible with a standard adhesion railroad. An adhesion railroad can only climb grades of 4 to 6%, with very short sections of up to 9%. A “rack” railroad can climb grades of up to 48%, depending upon the type of rack system employed. Some Swiss trains use a combination of “rack” and “adhesion”. This enables the trains to reach much higher speeds on the adhesion sections (rack railroads can not go much faster than 25 miles per hour or they run the risk of dislodgement from the rack rail- M & PP Ry.’s top speed is about 9 MPH). The first cog (or “rack”) railway was built in New Hampshire in 1869, but the Swiss were quick to make use of this technology, and numerous rack railways were built there. Indeed, Switzerland is still the country where most rack railways are located. The Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway is, however, the highest rack railway in the world as well as the highest railway in North America and the Northern Hemisphere. The M&PP Ry. has a perfect safety record! Workers come aboard and give history lessons as the train ascends to the clouds. As the train approaches tree-line, you will be rewarded with amazing views. At the top of Pikes Peak you can see for hundreds of miles, and another state – Kansas. If you’ve forgotten the words to the song, America the Beautiful, a placard is placed in honor of this song at the top so you may sing it and feel equally inspired. A gift shop sits atop, and passengers are alloted 20-30 minutes to peruse the shop, take pictures, and enjoy the view. Pikes Peak is 14,115, and altitude sickness is common. Drink water on the ride up to help alleviate headaches and stomach upset. For times, tickets and reservation information (highly recommended!) visit:http://www.cograilway.com/
About the Author: Kelly Young, GRI
- Author's website: www.sellmyhomeincoloradosprings.com
- More posts by Kelly
- email the author
Kelly is an Associate Broker with Red Rock Realty. She has over 12 years experience in Real Estate in the Colorado Springs and Front Range region of Colorado. She represents buyers and sellers of real estate buying homes, land for sale, mountain getaways. Specific areas include: Black Forest, Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Divide, Falcon, Downtown, Manitou Springs, Monument, Old Colorado City, Westside, Woodmen Hills and Woodland Park. You can reach her at 719-226-0126 or by clicking "email the author" above.
