The Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railway was a railroad in Colorado incorporated in 1880. A portion of the line, known as the

Georgetown Loop The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a narrow gauge United States heritage railroad located in the Rocky Mountains in Clear Creek County, adjacent to Interstate 70 in Colorado. This tourist train runs between the communities of Georgetown and ...

, was a tourism destination during the railroad company's operating period, and was rebuilt in the late 20th century as a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

History

Formed as the successor to the failed High Line Railroad, its directors were executives with the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

, including

Sidney Dillon Sidney Dillon (May 7, 1812 – June 9, 1892) was an American railroad executive and one of the US's premier railroad builders. Early life Dillon was born in Northampton, Fulton County, New York. His father, Timothy, was a farmer. Career Sidney ...

and

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

. The railroad originally proposed a line extending the

Colorado Central Railroad The Colorado Central Railroad was a United States, U.S. railroad company that operated in Colorado and southeastern Wyoming in the late 19th century. It was founded in the Colorado Territory in the wake of the Colorado Gold Rush to ship gold fr ...

from Georgetown to Breckenridge and

Leadville Leadville ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, Lak ...

. Soon after, the goal turned into linking Colorado Central to the

Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad (later called the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway) was a historic narrow gauge railroad that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th century. The railroad opened up ...

(DSP&P), which already had trackage to Breckenridge and Leadville. By linking up with the DSP&P's Keystone branch, it would provide both the DSP&P and the Colorado Central with a very direct route between Denver and Leadville and to compete with the much larger

Denver and Rio Grande Railroad The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south fro ...

. Initial work on the line began in 1881. In mid-1882, J.T. Clark resigned as general superintendent of the Union Pacific, which led to a reorganization of superintendent positions. The GB&L and other nearby lines came under the supervision of A.A. Egbert of Denver. Construction began out of Georgetown in 1883 with obstacles encountered. A six percent grade would be required between Georgetown and its neighbor

Silver Plume, Colorado Silver Plume is a Colorado municipalities#Statutory town, Statutory Town located in Clear Creek County, Colorado, Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Silver Plume is a former silver mining camp along Clear Creek (Colorado), Clear Creek ...

. This would be the first step at reaching the DSP&P in Keystone. The towns were only apart but due to a six percent grade, the railroad was long in order to decrease the grade to 3 percent. The problem with this was that the valley was narrow so the route included two hairpin turns and a viaduct where the route looped over itself. This portion would become the

segment of the railroad. Track was extended quickly to Graymont from Silver Plume. The railroad would be constructed through Loveland Pass, although insufficient funds to complete a tunnel made the line incomplete. GB&L was absorbed shortly after into the much larger Colorado Central and track between Graymont and Silver Plume was abandoned, but the Georgetown loop between Georgetown and Silver Plume became part of the Colorado Central. In 1889, Colorado Central and several other lines owned by Union Pacific were merged to become the

Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway The Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway was a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad created from what was the Colorado Central Railroad in 1890. It operated lines from Denver, Colorado through Cheyenne, Wyoming to Wendover, Wyoming and a route ...

which was later merged with DSP&P to become the

Colorado and Southern Railway The Colorado and Southern Railway was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I railroad in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908, then as part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until it was ...

. The Georgetown loop survived until 1939. In the 1980s, it was rebuilt as a tourist line, operated by the Georgetown Loop Railroad.

References

{{reflist Defunct Colorado railroads Predecessors of the Colorado and Southern Railway Railway companies established in 1880 1880 establishments in Colorado Railway companies disestablished in 1889