HISTORY

Join the Palmer Lake Historical Society for a fascinating evening and learn about the history of the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway. Author and photographer Claude Wiatrowski will explore the history of this fascinating 9-mile wonder through his illustrated presentation, " All Aboard for Pikes Peak." Claude has been a resident of Colorado since 1975 and has photographed thousands of historic places and artifacts. He is the author of "Historic Colorado," "Railroads of Colorado," "Railroads Across North America" and "All Aboard for America’s Mountain". The Pike's Peak Cog Railway is the highest cog railroad in the world and the third highest railway of any kind. The railway is located in Manitou Springs and was founded in 1889 by Zalmon G. Simmons, inventor and founder of the Simmons Beautyrest Mattress Company. The railway provided limited service to the Halfway House Hotel in 1890. Trains first reached the summit of America’s Mountain in 1891. A number of steam locomotives were built for the line by the Baldwin Locomotive Works - all rack-only locomotives with steeply inclined boilers to keep them level on the average 16% grades. Operating steam locomotives on such a line was back-breaking work and expensive, so when more modern forms of traction became available, the railway was eager to modernize. A gasoline-powered railcar, believed to be the first rack railcar in the world, was constructed in 1938. Later railcars ran on diesel fuel, while present day railcars on the Cog Railway operate on biodiesel fuel. The Palmer Lake Historical Society is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization located in Palmer Lake, Colorado. This program is free to the public. Refreshments will be served.