About our train, stations and area
Wildlife Watching on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad
Foxes and Elk and Bears....
Oh My!
Come have a beary good time spotting wildlife in the Sangre de Cristo mountain passes. Our onboard staff will give you a heads up on sites to spot a variety of birds and animals.
Our History
Alamosa, like most of our country, grew up with railroads. And while the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad put many towns on the map, none went up quite as quickly as ours.
The narrow gauge rail into town was completed on June 22, 1878, and shortly after, a train full of assorted pre-built buildings from nearby Garland City were brought in and put into place that same day. Rumor has it, in fact, that the men who worked the line had breakfast in Garland City that morning, and were later served dinner in the same building that evening – in Alamosa.
Back then, the town’s commercial center was located on what is now Sixth Street, with a couple of buildings to the north on what is now Hunt and State. Alamosa soon became an outfitting point for southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, and by 1880 the population had topped 800, making it the largest and liveliest town in south central Colorado.
