And that's the beauty about Colorado Springs and the Cripple Creek area! You see:

 I can have/model mainline modeling (ex AT&SF - now BNSF, ex Rio Grande - now UP).
 I can have/model the Colorado Midland (CM) - a standard gauge railroad that penetrated the Rocky Mountains towards the west (it's said it never should have been build, but it was..). That railroad had some really lovely scenic wonders in my meaning, just begging to be modeled - even if the last train ran on that railroad early into the 20th century (August of 1918).
 I can have/model the "sole survivor" Midland Terminal (MT) that in addition to it's own track from Divide to Cripple Creek used some of the track from the CM to get from Cripple Creek via Divide to Colorado Springs - MT got closed in 1949 due to the opening of a new mill in the District and hence no need for it anymore.
 I also can have/model a narrow gauge - the Florence and Cripple Creek RR (F&CC RR). It came into the Cripple Creek area from south and with an interchange with Rio Grande's mainline through Royal Gorge/Tennessee Pass. F&CC RR as a outbound railroad was closed in 1912 after a big washout in Phantom Canyon. Most of the narrow line in the District was still used for many years. Meaning I can have lots of dual gauge action, great! LOL
 I can also have/model another standard gauge railroad that went into Cripple Creek from Colorado Springs. The Short Line - or more correct, The Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Railway (CS&CCD Ry.) This line was shut down in 1920 I think. It ran through a very dramatic and beautiful landscape, at least according to my mind! J
 There's even more rail history! You have the Trolley/tram operation in Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs, and the Trolley operation in the Cripple Creek district! Also closed down early in the 20th century, but it was there at least... J
 And, not to forget, the worlds highest cog railroad - Manitou & Pike's Peak Railway (M&PP Ry.) - up to the top of Pikes Peak from it's depot in Manitou Springs!
 There where also an other cog railroad to a nearby zoo at one time, and there even where a cableway (called an incline) to a top over Manitou Springs.
 Of other things, you have The Garden Of Gods, lots of mining and related industry, and so on... What more do you need...? J (Except for a very big house/room so I could model all this...J) - Or, as I discovered in late 2002, use Trainz to make it all in a computer...  Then you just need a big hard drive, a very fast computer (mine's not...), lots & lots of time - and some commitment to learn new things like modeling in 3D instead of in "real world".

So, how did I end up here then?

Some background info:

I started to make this website as some sort of a tribute and "show off" of an area that I have fallen in love with, mainly because of it's railroad history.  Hence the name... J
The base for this pages started of focusing on the railroads of this area, - especially my favorite,. the Short Line! But it also soon become so much more. I still hope to be able to provide info and history of those railroads, and how I model them via a computer game called TRAINZ.
But, in addition it has become a place where I try to share parts of the history in written form with pictures taken from the things I am able to get hold of as money permits of the large tourist trade business it must have been back then, as there is quite a lit of brochures, postcard folders and so on produced with the Cripple Creek & Pike's Peak area as the focus.
I longed for a place where I could find info/background into how things where back then when I first got hooked on the Cripple Creek District, and it always been bugging me that so much is hidden away in collections I never can get access to, and only way seem to be so rich I don't know where to use all the money at before I even get a climpse of some of it - and not being rich I feel shut out of info I might find useful.

So, this website has become a sort of a place where I put out copies of things I been so lucky to get hold of, so far it is not much, and easy to get at info most of it - but I got a few treasures (for me at least) I would love to scan and put out - but they are large, and I'm not always sure how copyright works with some of it.
Hence, so far I put out mostly postcard and folders. In hope that it might come some to use, the way I would have loved to find back when I got started on this long hard path of being a Cripple Creek collector... J

Then, with my modeling I wish to be as true to the prototype as I can, but I know how difficult recreating history can be, so I reserve my right to use something called "modelers license".
Also because I know there are things I like so much that I want to have them in my model even if they might not have existed inside the timeframe I select. But, time will tell, I'm still a long way from even seeing the middle of this project!

So, within this pages I will try to give you both an update on things/projects I do related to that modeling project, but also try provide historic info about this part of the world, a world with GOLD in it!!

Welcome to the Cripple Creek & Victor Mining District!

I first set out to model this, as in a model railroad. I had been modeling in H0 (1:87) scale for some time, even if it been a very low priority since around 1996 when I met my husband...
I still have this dream about this big wonderful layout with all the track and landscape in it - one day, one day...J

So, I started to collect books, video's about my "new" love - it's not easy to just visit the area when it is so far away as it is, crossing the Atlantic and half of USA... But, me having a wonderful husband, I also got to visit this wonderful place a couple of times - thanks Tore!!

First time, in 1998, I didn't have this "love" for this particular area, I just knew I liked USA & Colorado in particular, and with a interest into the history of the Native Americans. And of course, the trains - especially the 3 foot narrow gauge ones in Colorado.

I had heard/read about the Florence & Cripple Creek Narrow Gauge, but also about the famed Denver & Rio Grande Western & The Rio Grande Southern, Colorado Midland was something I had heard about, AT&SF I knew about, had heard about Tehachapi and Cajon Pass, Horseshoe Curve and so on.

Had this thing about US locomotives, they are so big and ugly that I'm in totally love with them! J

All this, just because one Christmas in my early years my brother got a Märklin train set for Christmas - my gift, who cares...  Within a year I was hooked, but it was his train set so... Well, he got older, so did I, but his interest turned on to other stuff, mine stayed with trains and the possibility of creating my own perfect little world with the model trains.

Because of my interest for Native Americans, I was exposed to other things American, and so I got the US train bug. Then, in 1998 I got to see my first trains alive - awesome!!! J

At least for some time, the train we was on manage to run out of fuel just as we passed the tree line, near "Windy Point"!!
Well, there we was stuck, luckily we had passed a track gang some place below us so they came to our rescue after some time... It was a special way of ending our vacation here out in the west!
Also stayed a week on the east coast, we both liked the autumn better there then in Colorado, because the trees had more color variations then they did in Colorado where they "all just" turned yellow...

I bought a ton of books on that trip, and it was after that I realize I was hooked on this place near Colorado Springs, not as nice as the area around Silverton, but still - it was beautiful here - and as I say in my "Why" page - I could have it all here!!

And since late 2002 I've been trying to make it in the Trains simulator called TRAINZ from Auran in Australia. I also have the Microsoft Train simulator, but I didn't find that one half as easy/good for my need, so I more or less given up on that one.