Manitou & Pike's Peak Cog Railway

Highest railway in the US and highest rack railway in the world.

The Manitou & Pike's Peak Railway, the Cog Road, is the highest railway in the United States and the highest rack railway in the world. Built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works under Wilhelm Hildebrand, it has been in continuous (seasonal) operation since 1891. Roman Abt's rack system was used for the railway track, providing two steel racks with open, upstanding teeth that mesh with the locomotive drive pinions for traction up the steep grade. Four of the oldest steam engines, retired by 1958, are displayed at the Manitou Springs Station, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, and the Colorado Railway Museum in Golden. Diesel-hydraulic railcars, the first articulated trains on any rack road, now climb to the summit