Re: Pikes Peak Cog Steam

There are still two operational water tanks on the Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway. One is located at Minnehaha (near milepost 2) and the other one located at Mountainview (approx. mile post 4.5). The third tank at Windy Point( milepost 7) was removed many, many years ago. The main reason the cog has not ran steam to the summit since the early 1960's is indeed the lack of water and because locomotive # 4 boiler pressure is set for 180 psi which is a big problem keeping up the steam pressure going from 6000 feet to 14000 feet in elevation. Years ago the locomotive operated at 220-240 psi. In the early 1980's there was a few trips up to Mountain View, but at that time the locomotive was still a coal burner and set a lot of cinder fires. In 1993 the locomotive was converted to burn oil and has seen one trip to the Halfway House area. Current plans are to run it around the yard/ shop area for the next year or two and as the crew gets use to operating the locomotive it may wonder up towards one mile. I don't see this locomotive again reaching the summit of Pikes Peak due to several issues, but who knows, look what else has happened in Colorado over the last few years. Time will tell!!!