Project Updates

Things have been very busy here at the Cog! In the second half of the year, Stacy and Witbeck construction crews continued moving down the mountain with track building and reached the depot area after Thanksgiving. In October, we enjoyed a visit from our Swiss project team at Stadler to discuss final details of the assembly of our new locomotives and coaches and we are beyond thrilled with the progress of our new rail equipment. Assembly was completed on our new snowplow at Zaugg’s facility in Eggiwil, Switzerland and it was shipped to Stadler’s commissioning facility in Erlen, Switzerland to begin the static testing phase. Renovations on our historic depot facility continue to move ahead and the Railway is still on track for a May 2021 reopening!

It was Christmas in July at the Cog! We received the first pictures of our new snow blower in the pre-assembly phase at the Zaugg facility in Eggiwil, Switzerland. This new piece of equipment will allow us to cut through snow drifts up to 14’ tall and clear a path for our trains to the summit.

Track crews continued working their way down the mountain after finishing installing the first siding at Windy Point. Crews are now working down the Big Hill, our longest, steepest, narrowest portion of track. While it poses challenges, our crews are prepared!

Track work has continued, working downhill from the summit, where we started in May. The Stacy and Witbeck crews fine-tuned the track building process and achieved a project best to date of 720 feet built on June 18. The crews reached Windy Point siding on June 24, marking the 25% complete point.

Production of our new trains continues to move forward at Stadler’s facility in Switzerland. The first raw locomotive and passenger coach frames have been welded, measured, and painted. The train now moves to the assembly hall where all its intricate components will be installed with Swiss precision.

The first new rails of the Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway were laid May 13! Track construction crews from Stacy and Witbeck spent the remainder of the month fine tuning the building process and were making steady progress by the end of the month. We also received the first photos of our new trains in production from Stadler’s facility in Bussnang, Switzerland.

Final snow removal was completed for the season and final preparations are being made for construction to begin at the summit in May. This month, Stacy and Witbeck began staging steel ties, rail, and ballast up the mountain. Work continued on the axle conversions (Abt to Strub), and preparations began on the new engines, and the depot remodel.

Stacy and Witback kept plugging away on track work as the weather permitted. Cog employees continued to work on the axle upgrades as well as interior work on the car bodies.