Pikes Peak Cog Railway

The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway is the highest cog railway in the world. Since 30 June 1891 its trains have climbed from the depot on Ruxton Avenue in Manitou Springs, at 6,320 ft, to the summit of Pikes Peak at 14,115 ft: nearly 7,800 ft in about nine miles, on grades of up to 25 %. Cog wheels under the train grip a toothed rack laid between the rails, and the rack does the climbing.

The line was rebuilt from the track up between 2019 and 2021, with new rails, steel ties and a Strub rack, and today's trains are Swiss: three Stadler push-pull sets bought for the reopening, and four articulated railcars built by SLM of Winterthur between 1976 and 1989 and rebuilt in the railway's own shops.

The round trip takes about three hours: a little over an hour up, 40 minutes at the top, and a little over an hour back down. It runs all year.

Trains leave the Manitou Depot at 515 Ruxton Avenue and enter Pike National Forest almost at once, following Ruxton Creek up between the steep, rocky walls of Englemann Canyon, past Diamond Rock, stacked boulders and Minnehaha Falls. Once it has left the depot the train does not stop to let anyone off until the summit, and the conductor tells the stories of the landmarks and points out the wildlife on the way.

Above the canyon the line climbs Son of a Gun Hill, runs through the Icebox, a cool, shaded canyon, and passes the remains of the Halfway House Hotel, the end of the line when the first limited service began in 1890. Through Deer Park it reaches the Mountain View siding, where the summit comes into sight for the first time. Until 1976 Mountain View was the only place where trains could pass, which held the railway to three trains a day up the mountain; new sidings at Minnehaha and Windy Point made eight possible.

Above timberline

Beyond Mountain View the forest thins to bristlecone pines, some of them thought to be more than 2,000 years old, and the train climbs out above timberline. The views open east over the plains and Colorado Springs, and at Windy Point trains going up and down can pass once more. Yellow-bellied marmots whistle from the boulder fields, and the mountain is home to one of Colorado's largest herds of bighorn sheep.

At the top the train stops beside the Summit Visitor Center. From the summit you can see the Collegiate and Sangre de Cristo ranges, the mining town of Cripple Creek and, on a clear day, the skyscrapers of Denver. Trains do not turn round: if you faced forward on the way up, you ride backwards on the way down. Some riders stay on the mountain and walk down the 13-mile Barr Trail instead.

The trains

The three Stadler trains, Nos. 27, 28 and 29, each have a diesel-electric locomotive, two coaches and a cab car, and carry up to 263 passengers; they marked a return to locomotive-hauled trains on the mountain. The four SLM railcars, Nos. 18, 19, 24 and 25, are two cars joined by a bellows, carrying 214; for the reopening they were given new engines and cog wheels for the Strub rack. On the booking page the Stadler departures are marked blue and the railcars orange; only the railcars have a rear windshield. In winter a Swiss snowblower, No. 30, is pushed up the line by one of the Stadler locomotives.

The railway runs all year, every trip a round trip from the Manitou Depot to the summit and back. In summer it runs daily with departures every 40 minutes; in autumn and winter there are fewer.

No departures are on sale for Thanksgiving Day, 26 November 2026. Tickets go on sale a few months ahead: at the end of September 2026 the booking system was selling up to 30 November.

Good to know:

• Book ahead. Trains sell out, and only advance tickets let you pick your seats; walk-up tickets at the depot are sold only if seats are left.
• Arrive 30 minutes early, and allow about four hours in all. Parking at the depot costs $20; the free Route 33 shuttle runs from the town's own car parks.
• There are no toilets on board, and the train does not stop on the way up.
• Weather decides. Snow or wind can stop the trains short of the summit. There is no refund for weather if the train reaches the top.

Departures as of September 2026, from the railway's booking system (30 September, 3, 10 and 14 October, 1 and 15 November 2026) and its website for the summer pattern. Confirm before travelling on cograilway.com (opens in a new tab).

Every ticket is a round trip with a seat you choose when you book, and fares change with the date and the departure. Online, Reserved Admission starts at $67 for adults and $57 for children aged 12 and under; in October and November 2026 the booking system priced adults at $66 to $82. The Engineer's View, the front row beside the driver, starts at $96 and $86. Tickets bought at the depot or by phone start at $86 and $76. Taxes and fees are extra, and every passenger needs a ticket, whatever their age.

More than seven days before departure a booking can be changed or refunded free; within seven days it can be moved, or turned into store credit, for $20. Fares checked September 2026 at cograilway.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No rail pass covers the Cog Railway. It is privately owned and sells its own tickets; Amtrak's USA Rail Pass is valid only on Amtrak's own services, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The only reductions the railway offers are fixed ones: a child fare for ages 12 and under, and group rates for 25 or more travelling together. For everyone else the answer is simple: book the departure you want, early.

Checked September 2026 against cograilway.com (opens in a new tab) and amtrak.com (opens in a new tab).

The railway starts in Manitou Springs, a spa town at the foot of the mountain, six miles west of Colorado Springs. Around it lie red sandstone parks, a cave, a canyon of waterfalls and a set of cliff dwellings, all within a short drive of the depot.

The first trains leave at breakfast time and you need to be at the depot half an hour before, so it pays to sleep nearby. These are two historic hotels: one in Manitou Springs itself, and the grand resort in Colorado Springs whose name the railway carries.

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