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Denver once had an extensive electric rail transit system that included over 250 miles
of city tracks and 400 miles of high-speed interurban railroad connecting Denver with
Golden and Boulder.
Thousands of riders used the system to visit downtown Denver and its venues for shopping,
going to work and to school, seeing friends and for recreation.
Rich in local history, car number 25 was built by Denver's own Warburr Carriage Company
and placed into service on February the 17th, 1911.
Amadeus Warburr 1827 to 1905 and his younger brother Gallus founded the Warburr Carriage
Works at Danvernport, Iowa in 1853.
The Denver City Directory for 1876 shows the first built cars for railways about 1884,
when they delivered six diminutive horse cars to the Denver City Railway Company for use
on its Broadway extension.
Denver hasn't had a lot of street cars saved.
Other cities saved a significant amount of examples of their street car fleet.
I knew there were only a handful of them in Denver.
Car number 25 was one of seven cars that provided passenger service to the Denver Intermountain
Interurban's 13-mile Denver Lakewood Golden Line from 1911 to 1950, with the proliferation
of the automobile and a new bus system, the Denver Tramway Company abandoned rail and
its electric street car system in 1950.
Beginning in 1988, the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club Historical Foundation embarked on a 22-year
restoration project involving 500-plus donors and 96 volunteers contributing 24,000 hours
toward the restoration of car number 25.
Car number 25 is the last remaining completely intact electric railway car that once served
the Denver area.
As an exquisitely restored piece of history, car number 25 is listed on both the state
register of historic properties and the national register of historic places.
Car number 25 is currently stored at the Denver Federal Center with limited public access.
Today we now have what is called light rail.
Denver's first light rail line, a 5.3-mile section of what is now the D-line, opened
on Friday, October 7, 1994.
It was estimated that more than 200,000 passengers rode the new system during its two-day opening
weekend, when the fleet comprised of only 11 Seaman SD100 railroad cars.
Since that time, several additional light rail lines have been opened.
An 8.7-mile southwest extension to Mineral Avenue in Littleton opened in July 2000 and
a 1-point-mile Platte Valley extension to Denver Union Station opened in April 2002.
An additional 19-mile southeast corridor extension along I-25 to Lone Tree and a branch along
I-225 on Parker Road were completed in November 2006 as part of the Denver's T-Rex project.
On April 26, 2013, electric rail service returned to Jefferson County with the opening of the
inauguration of light rail service on the 12.1-mile long west line from Denver to Golden
through Lakewood.
As of April 2013, the system had 170 light rail vehicles serving 47 miles a track.
With passage of fast tracks, the RTD began planning for a series of heavy rail commuter
lines, the first 23.5 miles of which the A-line servicing Denver International Airport opened
on April 27, 2016.
We hope you have enjoyed this segment of Jeff Co-West and hope that when you visit Colorado,
you come to Jefferson County to see the many historical attractions.
Thank you from Jeff Co-West, History, Mystery and Myth.
My name is Raimi Johnson and I grew up in Lakewood, proud citizen.
I also happen to represent City Council in Ward 1, which is where the old trolley line
used to be.
About a year and a half ago, a citizen came to me with interest in trolley 25 to look for
a permanent home for our treasure.
It is the only one left.
It is a real keepsake, not only for Lakewood but for Jefferson County.
It's part of our heritage.
It's part of our tradition, our history, and it needs to be honored.
There is currently a task force looking at permanent placement.
I am hopeful in the end that trolley 25 will end up at the Heritage Center so that everyone
can enjoy it ongoing year round and actually it would be a real amenity to the Heritage
Center.
It would become a local destination.
There are many train and trolley aficionados that actually go nationally just to look at
all the trolleys that are out there nationally.
Lakewood is the proud owner of one of the sweetest trolleys that was ever built.
I am hopeful that it will have that permanent placement and that you can enjoy it ongoing
and bring your grandchildren there to ride what you may have ridden years ago.
For follow-ups and more information on how you can get involved, please contact jeffgowest.com
and stay tuned.
Thank you.
.
