The Little Engine that Probably Won't, Anytime Soon
Colorado train service is getting a lot of ink. But it's like the one at platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station. Invisible, and probably fictional. BY PETER MOORE, SPECIAL TO THE COLORADO SUN
THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES in my life when I was train-obsessed.
As a high-schooler, I often awoke at 5:30AM to pilot my dad down I-95 in Connecticut, to drop him off at the Westport Train Station for his commute to New York. Then I turned around to retrieve him from the New Haven Line ten hours later. I loved the excitement of looking down the line, spotting the arriving commuter beast, and collecting my dad for the sprint to our car.
Woo! Woooooo!
I transferred that enthusiasm to Paris, when I lived there as a young man. My buddy Seamus and I would by a bottle of cheap red, occupy a bench at the Gare du Nord, and revel in the grand spectacle of coming-and-going.
So I felt great excitement when Colorado governor Jared Polis expressed his support for a train line connecting Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, through Denver. When will it happen? When certain criteria are met, which I enumerate below, for my readers in the Colorado Sun.
Back in March, the governor and transit leaders hopped a train to Longmont, to demonstrate an alternative to the commuter madness on Interstate 25, along the Front Range. Once rail service returns, that is.
No need to buy a ticket, just yet.
Coloradans have been paying for imaginary trains for nearly two decades, as part of the FasTracks ballot initiative, passed in 2004. Now our elected trainspotters are looking for half a billion more dollars to fire up the engines from Pueblo to FoCo.
This time it’s going to happen. No really. Just a few more details to clean up.
Rail service will return…
Of course, some people are OK with the train delay
“A railroad is like a lie; you have to keep building it to make it stand.” — Mark Twain
Or just, you know…
How’s the chow on that there train?
Love the illustrations Peter. Let’s discuss when we connect this week.