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Almost there! for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which ascends Colorado's famous 14,115-foot Pikes Peak from its base station far below in Manitou Springs. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2016 July 27. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.48906

All Aboard for Pikes Peak

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In my most recent selection of railroad-related images on Flickr, All Aboard!, the photo that received the most attention was this one of the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Railway. I’m imagining the seemingly backwards and tilted locomotive drew some curiousity. This is a cog railway, used to climb steep grades. The boiler in this steam locomotive is tipped because it needed to remain level when going up an incline. And for safety reasons, the locomotive actually pushed the train cars up the mountain instead of pulling them, which explains the orientation of the engine.

[Summit, cog wheel train, Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway, Colo.] Photo by William Henry Jackson, ca. 1900. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a09176
The first train of this unusual cog railway reached Pike’s Peak, Colorado, a summit over 14,000 feet in elevation, in 1881. Here are some other photos from our collection that show the train in action, as well as the railway’s destination, the top of the mountain.

Fourteen thousand feet above the sea, Pike’s Peak, Colorado, U.S.A. Photo by Underwood & Underwood, 1894. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11398
Train descending Pike’s Peak, on the famous Cog Railway, Colorado, U.S.A. Photo by H.C. White, 1906. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11410
Shoveling out the famous Cog Railway, 2,000 feet below the summit, Pike’s Peak, Colorado, U.S.A. Photo by H.C. White, 1906. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11412
The summit of Pike’s Peak. Photochrom by Detroit Photographic Co., 1901. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18299
The summit of Pike’s Peak. Photochrom by Detroit Photographic Co., 1901. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18006

Though the trains look a bit different now, you can still take a ride to the top of Pike’s Peak today.

Both coming and going are steep for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which ascends Colorado’s famous 14,115-foot Pikes Peak from its base station far below in Manitou Springs. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2016 July 27. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.48903

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