Up the hill to Silver Plume. Georgetown Loop Locomotive 111 is just about 3 minutes into her first run of the day to Silver Plume as she circles back around the Devil's Gate Station and prepares to cross the High Bridge. Astute observers will recognize that although this train is destined for Silver Plume, it is currently headed in the other direction. The narrow gauge (3 ft.) route from Georgetown to nearby Silver Plume is about as circuitous as a railroad can be. The two towns are but 2 miles apart, but the railroad between them is over twice that distance, gaining 640 feet over its 4.5 mile length. The railroad was opened in 1884 and saw service both as an ore-hauling line and as a tourist attraction until it closed in 1939. Although the original line was removed shortly afterward, it was reconstructed as a tourist railroad in the 1980s and thrives today as one of this country's most spectacular train rides.
The newest power at the Georgetown Loop is #111, a former International Railways of Central America (IRCA) Baldwin Consolidation, built in 1926. She has 24,730 lbs of tractive effort and is an oil-burner. She has been under restoration for several years and was placed into service in the late summer of 2016.
