CROSSING an abandoned train trestle HIGH in the Rockies 

I've not been in that area for 40 years. It's interesting to see how much it has decayed since then but so have I. Thanks for taking us along for the adventure.

Always a fun adventure! Your channel doesn't get enough traffic at all. You go to some really cool trials! Can't wait to see the next upload!

Grew up in Gilpin County and used to drive over the two trestles 8-10 times a year. There's another one on the west side that you could also drive across, but it was part of a big curve and the railroad went under the trestle through a tunnel under the trestle. Tunnel was caved in even in the 50's. It's the one that appears in the first part of the video. The devil's slide trestles were pretty freaky to drive across back in the day. Spent a LOT of time up there, fishing all the lakes, hiking, jeeping, and in general having a great time. After they closed the road when Needles Eye tunnel collapsed, people used the old stagecoach road that went up over the top. Great video and brought back a lot of memories.

"George L. Beam and the Denver and Rio Grande" has great photos of these areas made in the early 1900's through the 1930's. Beam worked for the railroad and was a talented photographer.

I did jeep tours there about 30 years ago. 3:25 The loop trestle. Beneath the trestle a tunnel used to carry the railroad as it formed a loop. I have a photo taken from a caboose on a train about to pass under the trestle. On the trestle a plow train, a steam-powered rotary pushed by three locomotive with the trailing engine running backwards in case the train got stuck in a snow-drift or avalanche and had to be pulled back out. The locomotives were wide-open throttle and looked like a volcano. Photo taken about 1925 or so. Bollinger, "Rails that Climb"

Check out the kettle valley line in bc kelowna area massive trestles

If the railroad right-of-way seems a little narrow to you, the Rollins Pass route was actually a standard gauge railroad. Maximum grade was 4%. Another amazing fact is that this almost absurd crossing of the Continental Divide continued in operation until Moffat Tunnel was opened in 1928. The Denver & Salt Lake completed with the Colorado Midland, the Denver & Rio Grande route through Tennessee Pass and a number of other routes.

RR was constructed over the pass in 1903. David’s original plan was for the Tunnel and like many things needed to get something operating so that investors could be attracted. So the highest mountain pass was superseded by the longest tunnel. Moffets RR never made it to Salt Lake terminating in Craig CO. With the crash of ‘29 the D&SL was unable to make it and the line along with the Tunnel was acquired in 31 by the Denver and Rio Grande Western RR. In 32 the Dotsero Cut off was started to connect David’s RR to the D&RGW line just before Glenwood Canyon. In 1934 Denver had a direct western route to Salt Lake. As to the old Rollins Pass route it was used one time after the Moffet Tunnel was opened . A rock slide (iirc) forced a temporary closer of the tunnel for a few days and a single train was hauled up and over the cork screw of a RR. Official abandonment of the Rollins pass line was not approved by the ICC until 1935. Much of the wooden debris near the summit is from the timber framed snow sheds that covered the tracks to help manage the enormous amount of snow that would have made the route useless for the deep winter months. Tunnels through the snow. Thanks for the footage and jogging my memory re the D&SL 😊

Was across there several times in the '60s and '70s by car and motorcycle when you could drive all the way across from Rollinsville to Winter Park, where you started the dirt part of this video. The first trestle at 19:17 was a "loop around" for the railroad that was crossable by car back in the '60s, the railroad looped around and passed under the trestle, you can see it on google earth/maps better than you can in person. The stretch from Rollin's Pass (or the "Town of Corona"), where you parked, to the Needles Eye Tunnel over the trestles was unforgettable and a great day trip to take out of state folks on. It's a shame they never reopened/fixed the tunnel at least for smaller vehicles... It's been about 50 years now since I last crossed it by vehicle, it's sad to see the erosion and decay of what was once a thrilling drive. Hiking north along the Continental Divide from the top of the pass takes you into the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, and south takes you towards the James Peak Wilderness... Thanks for letting me see it again by drone...

From Corona, you can drive the trail (may have been the wagon road) above the railroad line and it meets the line near needles eye tunnel so you can cut out a lot of the hike (I just hiked to the bridges from there). The Moffat railroad tunnel which is still used made Rollins Pass unnecessary. However, as a railroader, that high line would have been an awesome line to work. Great vid!

The eye of the needle. Did that many years ago. An easy road at 4% but rough riding. I think you can probably get to the trestle by going up the Winter Park side, at least we could 25 years ago.

Went all the way through the Rollins pass road in 1977 in an Opel Kadette .. the tunnel and bridges were open.. scary even then. The cool thing you didn't mention about the first trestle you came to was the high part of a corkscrew .. the train went under it too. nice video

The summer of 1976, I drove across all those tressles in my 1951 Chevy two wheel drive pickup with my brother and girlfriends , making the loop over Berthoud pas and back to Denver, was a great day!

I love old stuff very much too but I like to see it in operational condition!

Thanks for the tour… It’s a shame some people think they need to tag historical sites 😢

awesome drone footage and video editing, full support tamsak Always and bananas to this awesome host

Thanks for the memories! My family and I drove the entire Rollins Pass road many times in the 1970s, the trestles and tunnel were intact, the old snow sheds that covered the RR tracks had decayed and collapsed but were still all over the right of way. We found the road very drivable and regular cars easily made the drive in those days. The entire trip from Denver to the Moffat tunnel, up and over the Rollins Pass road and either back the same way or over Berthoud pass made for an excellent day’s outing.

You may have already answered this but what did you do with the crawler hauler. I only ask is bc I really am interested in building something similar.

Nice, I went through that tunnel and over the trestles in 1980 coming from Frazier. I think it closed shortly after that. Great adventures!

Nice video and very nice set of wheels. I last visited this area in the 1970s. Obviously 50 years of decay has taken its toll. I am disgusted and amazed at the graffiti everywhere. You young folks, with your concerns about the environment, should consider directing some of your efforts into finding a way to eliminate this problem. I don't have a clue as to how that could be done. Just another sign of moral decay I suppose. My mother used to say, "Fool's names, like fool's faces always appear in public places." Ruins it for everyone. Thanks for sharing.

What hospital, my sister worked at rose memorial for about 30 years, she was an RN.

Hey guys, that was fun...thanks for sharing. Jeep looks great

You could drive on those trestles in the 90s with just a normal road car.

used to drive across that all the time when i was a kid. lot of commie boulder politics about that road.

I love Rollins Pass! If you haven't tried the Rollins Pass East trail you should. It's a beautiful easy drive from Rollinsville. You can check out the Moffatt Tunnel and there are 2 lakes on the way to the pass.

Thanks for the memories and gorgeous views of the high country! My wife and I drove Rollins Pass including the Needle and Devil's Slide Trestles in 1978 in our '75 Landcruiser when they were still open to vehicles. It was an unforgettable experience of a lifetime!

Code brown production? We call that taking a poop. What’s code brown at the hospital?

Great clip! What is the title from your guidebook? Thanks

If you hike along the road bed west of the first tresle shown, or hike around the hill mass from the other direction there is a place about a half mile west of the tresle where you can see the remains of a train wreck below the roadbed. Much was salvaged but there are still remains. I recall the front of a boiler.

I’m an over the road trucker, been on roads that separate boys from men. This is on another level! Much respect to those train engineers that traverse those rails!

Beautiful looking territory. Nice to see these old mines we can explore easily.

The snow and rock slides must have been epic every year

Definitly a very spectacular Train Route. Very sad that don't exist any more for Tourist use like the #GlacierExpress. Would be great....

Georgetown is fun.

I don't know but your Hitchhiker looks pretty dangerous, especially when she took her shades off and you could see her eyes You might need to hold on to her for awhile for interrogation ah, the secrets that young lady might be hiding

You need to get a battery powered bike to get to these places.

I’ve have driven tru the tunnel and across the trestles several times in the 70s before it was closed due to an accident in the tunnel.

We took a four day hike on the old Rio Grande Southern right of way up to Lizards Head Pass. Absolutely beautiful scenery. Some abandoned bridges we walked across and some we walked around. Too bad the track is still not in place. What a grand location for a scenic train ride!

Nice video but you don't need the music!

A steam train loaded with goods or passengers was a lot of weight bearing down on those wooden structures😲

I never heard of the area, thanks for filming there, I added it to my must do list. keep up the good work with the drone.

Thanks!

I drove the Rollins pass in a 1973 Chevrolet Suburban before the road was closed. It was only one way from East to West. The second time a rich had almost blocked the tunnel. It was an assume drive.

Unless that Gold-Silver mine is right off the beaten path, I find it hard to believe that someone would carry in a spray can of paint and tag the remains with grafitti. I'm sorry but grafitti is not "art"!

This railroad was nicknamed the "Moffat Line" after David Moffat the man behind the project. Originally it was the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific, but after reorganization it became the Denver and Salt Lake Railway or D&SL. Great video!

Iv'e never been a big fan of the Rails To Trails Activist groups as these Great Railroads that built America the Class A will never be built again in America. Times are different. At any praticlar time had the rail way not given the land to the trails, they could have came back on lined and used. once there gone there gone.

When I was little I got to drive through Needles Eye Tunnel a few years before they closed it. Rollins Pass is an interesting and cool place.

Got to do the whole road before the needles eye collapsed in the late eighties great experience.

Would have been great without the wretched music. Why do people think everything needs music?

Well if I walked all that way I would have gone into that tunnel,if your not living on the edge,your just taking up space😎

Cool channel! Sub’d🎉

Your videos are really great. You need to brush up a little bit on the history though. Read the book the Giants ladder and you will see where your discrepancies are.

Pretty incredible for something that was only temporary, until Moffet Tunnel was completed.That all explains how David Moffet ran out of money at Craig Co. No trains over that pass ever got to Salt Lake. Those Denver, Northwestern and Pacific crews called it "Hill Hell" for good reason especially in winter.

13:14 I drove over it in 1980 in Plymouth station wagon frequently for camping. There is a locomotive in the bottom of one of those lakes right there

Please...please cut out the music, stick with awesome content, intelligent commentary

That was a good road trip. Say hi to Kaylee from casper. Blessings

Needles tunnel got closed down when it collapsed on a family in a jeep and killed them all. I’m not for sure if they’re still in there or if they got them out

My grandpa worked on the the hill removing snow he was a pilot on a rotary he quit to work on the tunnel then he bought a gas station in rollinsvilleI still have family that lives there today

BOY! They sure didn't waste any dynamite to make that any wider!!

Next time go through rollins pass you can hike to the tunnel and it has a jenny lake plus you can see the beginning of the Moffat tunnel love this channel!!!!

they spent a million dollars shoring up needles eye tunnel, then some fireman got killed right after, in a rock fall. so they used that as an excuse to close it.

that is a twin cylinder steam engine that was powered by those boilers at 13 min mark

Incredible views. I have shared a few of your videos on facebook, including this one. You have one of the best channels on RU-vid in my opinion.

When I was younger we could drive over the pass and go through the tunnel and over the trestles.

Beautiful forest. What species of evergreen?

Surprised that the effort was put in to pull the tracks.

If a railroad trestle is “abandoned” it wouldn’t have a solid wood surface on it. That’s not the way trestles are built. I imagine it does your ratings good to make it sound so dangerous though.

You said air compressor looks like a steam engine that would drive the stamp mill with a belt drive. Thanks for taking us along. Nothing quite like this in NE Wyoming.

at that elevation, nice for a train in July or August but the rest of the year, ugh.

WHY did you get TATTOOS? THAT is the Way of the world, NOT GOD WAY

Would be crazy to run a train thru there

It would be scarry

Moffat railroad did not go to Salt Lake City...

Excellent video, nice place to do MTbing.

Cool old steam engine

Went over it several times Yankee-doodle Lake is probably one of the most beautiful lakes in Colorado

I rode in a jeep with a stepfather across this in the early 60's. Staying the night a pumphouse lake on top. He would stop half way and bounce in his seat. Vehicles were one at a time through the tunnel.

I just realized I haven't been there in almost 30 years. Time to return.

Its kind of painful to see such a waste of infrastructure.

WHAT DID YOU DO PULL HER HAIR OUT

Could've done the video in 5 minutes. Get on the trestle, cross, come back, leave. No need for that other stuff.

It’s always way more fun when you have a riding partner to share the experience with. But what a great video buddy my brother would love to ride around in his wife’s Jeep exploring like that, I like being in my SXSs

DR&GW.

Your Jeep is sweet can you tell me some specific about it. Year model tires etc. Thanks

Good stuff man. This is the type of video coverage that makes me want to come out west for my little for fun channel jeepNdirt. My wife enjoyed this and finally understands that not all shelf roads are bad. Lol.

Cool vid man. 👍👌

Awesome find ! Two RR trestles good coverage !

The first trestle is across the highway from the Winter Park ski resort (Mary Jane) This was my favorite snowmobile area for years.

Great snowmobiling up that road

I sure miss Colorado.

Great vid!! Stunning! Many thx!

Great video. Kaylee was a nice addition.

It's a beautiful area. 👍

Redwood beams?

10:43 what book is that?

It's sad that there are no rails left! I was hoping you had brought your rail cart to drive on it. You can still drive across the tallest wooden trestle in our country in Southern California on your rail cart. Goat canyon trestle is almost 300 ft high! Several videos on RU-vid.

Just film and talk. Why do you put yourself in the frame? You block the view. Thx. Good vid.

Quit teling everyone how pretty it is.