Winter Park Express

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TexRail

Train Attendant
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Dec 12, 2011
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The Ski Train traditionally was weekend service during the ski season. I would imagine the revived Winter Park Express will be the same.
 
Good, good. It seems unclear what days they will operate but I bet Winter Park Resort will take the lead on that; it sounds like UP is being quite cooperative.
 
Beats going right by the place and on to Fraser, only to have to backtrack in shuttle van. The DIA-Winter Park trek with the new rail service as a connector seems plausible only for short hops into Denver, though. I don't know what time the Winter Park Express leaves Denver Union Station, but I imagine it's no later than 9:00 AM so to afford a full day on the slopes. That means an arrival at DIA no later than 7:30 AM, I'd say, given how baggage works these days.
 
If my foggy memory remembers right, back in the 1980's and 1990's I remember taking the CZ and the stop was just past the tunnel and next to the ski slopes! Even though it was called "Winter Park/Fraser" it was the only stop, it did not stop in Fraser itself.
 
If I remember correctly, the departure was scheduled for 7 AM from Denver to make it to the slopes at about 9AM.
 
The Colorado Department of Transportation has recently gone into direct competition with AmtraK on the route from Denver Union Station to Glenwood Springs.

They have a bus called the "Bustang" that leaves the new Amtrak station at 8:05AM every morning that arrives in the south end of Glenwood Springs at 1:46PM.

From that spot in GSC, you can get a ride on the RFTA bus up to Aspen. http://www.rfta.com/

You can arrive in Aspen about 3PM without a rental car. This bus rolls at 8:05 AM no matter how late the CZ is coming in from Chicago.
 
Winter Park I believe is still a city of Denver park so support from the city can be expected

Would expect the express to start some time in December weekends and maybe holidays especially if they are near weekends.

Even the trains 15 months ago were sold out the situation may be even more full depending on the capacity that can be given by Amtrak.

Denver's transportation system has more coverage than 2015. Now the W, FF,, A,B, G, R all are now running to Union station ? Before the end of the year the C, D, E, F, &L will go there by the end of this year. That will enable many skiers to not have to drive at all and "MAY" increase demand
 
I believe traveler's memory is wrong. CZ has never had a station stop next to the west portal of the Moffat Tunnel. And the original CZ's first stop west of the tunnel was at Granby.
 
The snow train did though, picked up and dropped off right at the slopes.
 
the_traveler said:
If my foggy memory remembers right, back in the 1980's and 1990's I remember taking the CZ and the stop was just past the tunnel and next to the ski slopes! Even though it was called "Winter Park/Fraser" it was the only stop, it did not stop in Fraser itself.
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Yes, that's my memory as well. The ski train, however, continued on to Fraser empty because there is a wye there to turn the train back to Denver. I suppose it still does.
 
west point said:
Denver's transportation system has more coverage than 2015. Now the W, FF,, A,B, G, R all are now running to Union station ? Before the end of the year the C, D, E, F, &L will go there by the end of this year. That will enable many skiers to not have to drive at all and "MAY" increase demand
Click to expand...
Could you expound on this? Currently W, C, and E run to what I call the fake Union Station. That is the station which was created two blocks west of Union Station when the renovation and rebuilding began. The A line does run from the real Union Station, at least the VIP run on Apr 21 did as I was boarding #6.

I'm pretty sure the B, G, & R lines are not operational yet. Looking a a Denver light rail map, R will run from Lincoln in the far southeast to Peoria where it joins the airport (A) line, nowhere near US. Are you saying B and G will run to the real US? Will they be heavy rail similar to A, or light rail similar to all the rest?

Finally, don't D and F go to downtown Denver, not US?

I am a frequent visitor to Denver and a great fan of it's light rail. Recently I was bicycling on the Clear Creek Trail near Federal north of Denver and passed under what was certainly an electrified rapid transit line. I thought maybe it was the ill-fated Bolder line. But looking at a map, it must have been the G line to Wheat Ridge scheduled for the Fall of 2016.
 
The BusTang is indeed new and does go between Union Station in Denver and Glenwood Springs on a daily basis. Only one trip per day in each direction.

At first I was kind of excited about this for an alternative to AmTrak for when I want to visit GWS for a couple days. But the schedule is certainly not set up for someone with my needs:

Westbound: Leave Union Station 5:40 PM and arrive GWS 9:25 PM

Eastbound: Leave GWS 7:05 AM and arrive Union Station 11:10 AM

Seems more for people who live in GWS and want to visit Denver. Schedule is kind of the opposite that of AmTrak, so in a sense it could be complimentary.
 
So what are the chances this new platform could become the winter Fraser stop for the CZ like Browning/East Glacier on the EB?
 
Bustang service between DEN and GSC is not daily -- Monday thru Friday omly.
 
I doubt that Amtrak will drop the Fraser stop, since it is in town, while the other only has a ski resort nearby.

Plus, Fraser is often used as a smoke break and I doubt the ski reaort would go for that use of their platform stop.
 
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PaulM said:
Could you expound on this?Are you saying B and G will run to the real US? Will they be heavy rail similar to A, or light rail similar to all the rest?
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B & G are "heavy" like the A line, running high-platform Silverliner Vs and coming directly into Union Station.
The three tracks nearest the station are for the A line (and the future N line). The next two tracks are for Amtrak and Ski Train. The next three tracks are for the B and G lines, which open later this year.

You're correct about the other details. The light-rail lines run to the Union Station annex two blocks north at the other end of the underground bus station. T

The R line, which opens later this year, doesn't go to Union Station at all; it connects Aurora to the A line at Peoria. Still, this means that people in Aurora could connect to Winter Park quite easily (R line - A line - Ski Train).

The relocation of the commuter bus station to the underground Union Station location means there are a lot more people who could park near their homes and take the bus to Union Station to catch the ski train, if they could fit their skis on the bus. (They can definitely fit their skis on the light rail and heavy rail trains.)
 
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Re: the original Ski Train.....It departed Denver and dropped off passengers right at the Winter Park ski area. It then continued on to the wye at Tabernash, where it laid over until time to pick up at the ski area....it did not go on to Fraser. When Amtrak started running the SFZ over the D&RGW (renaming it the CZ and replacing the tri-weekly RGZ on the route), it was refused permission by the railroad to stop at the ski area, so they created the "Winter Park-Fraser" stop. It also continued the nearby stop at Granby, that the RGZ and original CZ always served.
 
Tabernash wye is west of the Fraser station. So the Ski Train passed thru the Fraser station enroute to the wye. The consist turned on the wye and stayed there, until returning to the Winter Park for loading just after 4 pm.
 
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