Friday, May 29, 2009

Platte Valley Trolley

The Platte Valley Trolley is an operation of the Denver Rail Heritage Society. At present it has just one car, a Gomaco-built open car powered by a Diesel generator. It runs along the Platte River through Denver from downtown, past the football stadium, along a mile or so of an abandoned railroad spur. The two volunteers shown here, a man and his wife, were taking turns running the car and providing commentary as we rolled past various places of interest, such as a children's museum.

Here the car is approaching its terminal under a major downtown highway bridge. The Gomaco car is an excellent replica; it uses trucks, motors, etc. from Melbourne. The society, as you can see from the webpage, has big plans: they want to build a carbarn and museum, install overhead wire, and move their Denver & Interurban car there when it's restored. (In the background is the Elitch amusement park.)


This waycar currently serves as an office and workshop for the operation. Unfortunately, the open car is stored outside, behind the chain link fence, and is showing its age. But it's an interesting and enjoyable ride, and demonstrates another facet of railway preservation in contrast to the two I already posted from our trip to Colorado.

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