One hour west of Denver, the historic small town of Georgetown offers one of the most scenic train rides in all of Colorado. The Georgetown Loop Railroad winds through the Clear Creek Canyon between the historic Victorian mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume. Tracing the same rail lines that once carried silver ore during the state’s mining days, today the historic narrow-gauge railroad transports visitors along a one-hour ride through the Rockies.

Originally completed in the 1880s, the railroad served the booming silver mines that fueled Georgetown’s rise as the “Silver Queen of the Rockies.” Trains hauled ore, supplies, and passengers through the mountains until the line was dismantled in 1938. Decades later, preservation efforts brought the railroad back to life, restoring the route as a living piece of Colorado history. 

The route itself is the attraction. Although the two towns sit just two miles apart, the railroad stretches the journey to more than four miles, climbing nearly 640 feet in elevation through a series of curves, trestles, and bridges. The engineering solution was so innovative in the 1880s that it became known simply as “the Loop.” At its most dramatic point, the track crosses over itself atop the towering Devil’s Gate High Bridge, creating one of Colorado’s most iconic railroad views.

The Georgetown, CO, train runs almost year-round with special train rides for Halloween and the holiday season. During the summer season, many departures also include access to the Lebanon Silver Mine, where visitors can step inside a historic tunnel and learn what life was like for the miners who once worked deep beneath these mountains.