“GHOSTS OF TRAINS PAST”

Who hasn’t driven up Ute Pass and imagined hearing a train whistle and seeing a colorful Colorado Midland RR locomotive racing along beside, belching smoke, on the old rail grade? Sadly, the tracks were torn up in 1949, and only the ghost of the old train remains…and the Midland Depot in Divide. On Sunday, June 15, you are invited to join host Dave Martinek as he tells the story of the Midland and its Divide Depot.

Ute Indians had been forcibly removed to Utah before the Midland wound its way along their Ute Pass trail in 1886. Nonetheless, the Midland chose a noble Ute warrior as its logo. CMRR’s standard gauge rails were the first to penetrate the Colorado Rockies, eliminating the costly expense of eastern railroads offloading freight onto the prevailing narrow gauge lines. In 1895, a spur, The Midland Terminal Railway, spun south from Divide, Colorado, to the gold fields in Cripple Creek district. The Midland Depot was constructed at this juncture in 1886, burned in 1887, and was rebuilt in 1903. Host Dave Martinek is a Vietnam veteran, a retired communications executive, a realtor and a train buff. He is chair of the Teller Historic and Environmental Coalition (T.H.E.), and is leading a committee to restore and preserve the Midland Depot at Divide.

The Pikes Peak Historical Society invites you to learn the story of the Midland Depot when they host Dave Martinek on Sunday, June 15, for their monthly Chautauqua (free program), at 2:00 pm at the Florissant Library. The Library is located adjacent to the Florissant Community Park on 334 Circle Drive in Florissant. Martinek’s program is presented as a public service of the Pikes Peak Historical Society. Admission is free, and refreshments are served. Seating is limited. For more information, call 719-748-3562.