There’s never traffic at this concert venue, and you always have a designated driver.
At 9,242 feet, seven miles from a public road, the only way to get here is by train. In building a concert venue high on this pass in southern Colorado, the Rio Grande Scenic Railway had to haul in everything by train — including a cement truck. Solar panels and a wind turbine were set up to provide all the power.
The endeavor reached fruition this summer, with regular weekend concerts drawing hundreds to a pristine mountain meadow accessible only by train. The last show of the year was Sept. 19, and the railroad plans more such events in 2010 and may someday pick up passengers in Pueblo, Colo., or even Colorado Springs.
Trains have long whisked people through Colorado’s mountains, from smoke-belching narrow-gauge railroads that opened up the frontier to the restored locomotives that carry tourists on summer excursions through the high country.
But, these days, there’s a lot more to do than stare out the window or sip drinks in the club car. And autumn, when the air is chilly and it’s already winter on the high peaks, is a great time to do it.
“We’re (Colorado) natives and this is unbelievably gorgeous. It’s completely untouched. It’s beautiful,” said Pilar Lovate, of Colorado Springs, riding back to Alamosa after the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad’s last concert. “We rode the train up to the middle of nowhere. No cars. There were no power lines.”
The train began operating in 2006, one of nine mountain tourist trains in Colorado. It has several routes, and passengers can get on in La Veta, Colo., Alamosa, Colo., and other locations in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
A one-time concert in 2007 was so successful railroad officials added more in 2008. They have a stage this year, and riders can get a cooked lunch. Next year, railroad President Ed Ellis said he hopes to add camping to the trip.
“It was clear from the get-go we should do it at the top of the pass. You can only get there by train,” Ellis said.
The music is “family friendly” and Americana — country, folk, jazz — and Ellis said that is how it will stay. Many shows, including the final one, have featured cowboy music performer Michael Martin Murphey. A film crew from the PBS series “America’s Heartland” came along for a future episode.
The venue is breathtaking, an aspen-ringed meadow, with the jagged massif of Blanca Peak shining in the distance. And riding through a rugged Western landscape in a train car, past deer and elk and high mountains, to get here is an old-fashioned experience. You can talk to the conductors in their old-time uniforms, get a drink in the club car, travel to a place with no roads and forget what century you are living in.
“Take a look out there. American flags, beautiful people. This is just my dream gig,” said Murphey, shortly before taking the stage for a two-set performance. “What we’re the proudest of is the fact we’ve built it off the grid up here.”
Later, back onboard the train, Murphey and his band took out their instruments for an impromptu singalong in the club car. They plucked songs about trains as the train wound its way out of the mountains, while the setting sun cast long shadows on the dusty San Luis Valley floor. Ellis, the company president, played with them.
“Trains and music, they kind of go together,” Ellis said.
