Thirty or so of us assemble in the lobby. A new Grey Line bus pulls up in front of the hotel. Our tour guide tries to account for ‘missing persons’ and we depart to drive about an hour and a quarter west, along I70.

We see the downtown Denver skyline. Our guide remarks how little traffic there is, “unusual.” Enough for me! You can see the pollution as a yellowish stripe across the middle of the mountains.

We de-bus and on-train at Georgetown and opt for an open car with bench seats down each side. There are nine cars, four open top, five with canopy roofs and open sides. All restored and dating from around 1890-1920.

The grade up the valley, 6%, was too steep for trains of the 1800’s so instead of traversing two miles straight, the track loops over itself using the Devil’s Gate Bridge, reconstructed to resemble the original.