The “Iron Horse” Comes to North Park

The “Iron Horse” Comes to North Park. . , The relative solitude of North Park was shattered by the clank of picks and shovels and the shouts of workers as the railroad came to the valley in 1911. Stretching from Laramie, Wyoming, to Coalmont, Colorado, the "iron horse" greatly facilitated shipping of North Park commodities. For the next 80 years, the valley echoed with the rattle and clatter of trains hauling coal, livestock, and timber to distant markets. , After mining closed in Coalmont in 1964, the line was pulled back to Hebron. In later years, traffic on the line diminished, and the tracks were eventually removed in the 1990s. , The railroad line traversed present-day Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge on its way to Coalmont. Its abandoned grade is still visible to the west and south of this site. , Did You Know? , Before becoming the Coalmont Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1951, North Park's railroad was known by five different names: Laramie, Hahn's Peak and Pacific Railway; Larimer and Routt County Railway; Colorado, Wyoming and Eastern Railway; Northern Colorado and Eastern Railroad; Laramie, North Park and Western Railroad.