General Discussion (Model Railroader)

taildisk wrote:

from an over-seas visitor Hoping to travel (2009) the area that I am modelling, ie. Canon City to Minturn. I would like to travel from Denver via Georgetown to Minturn, continue down H'wy 24 + 285 via Tennesse Pass to Salida. Then follow H'wy 50 to Pueblo, and back up to Denver. My concern is - what is the weather like during the last week of April and the first week of May? I do not intend to model snow scences - so I am hoping to get useful photo's. What are my chances? Where is the snow line at this time of the year? Rob   (from down under)

Rob, you're going to be up around 10,000 feet at the summit of Tennessee Pass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Pass_(Colorado) In late April, early May, you could be subject to snowstorms. We drove across the Rockies on US 50 in late May of this year, crossing Monarch Pass (elev. 11,300 feet) between Montrose and Salida and this is what we encountered:

Fortunately, the weather was good and we didn't have a problem. Just remember that you can get nasty snowstorms at high altitude in late spring. In all probability, you will see snow above 7500 to 8000 feet, possibly lower.

Hope this helps.

Andre

Weather in the central Rockies can be fickle at that time of the year! On the 4th of July, 1976 I went over Trail Ridge Road and down to Granby on a (wasted day) picture shooting expedition. I topped the pass in a driving blizzard but the snow wasn't sticking to the roadway; I wondered if I might have to go down to I-70 to get back to the east side of the Front Range. When I got back to he top however the sky was pristine blue but there was about a foot of snow accumulated at roadside.

I would offer one piece of advice for travel through the Colorado Rockies in April: carry chains and know how to put them on!

MOST OF THE SNOW IS ABOVE 9,000 FEET.

Main hiways are kept clear  - except immediately after a storm. Buy some chains for the car should the high passes become slippery. 

Denver to  Minturn, Leadville, and Salida the most Scenic. Few RR's.  UP & Amtrak route traffic up over barren Wyoming.

Don Gibson wrote:

MOST OF THE SNOW IS ABOVE 9,000 FEET. Main hiways are kept clear  - except immediately after a storm. Buy some chains for the car should the high passes become slippery.  Denver to  Minturn, Leadville, and Salida the most Scenic. Few RR's.  UP & Amtrak route traffic up over barren Wyoming.

Amtrak( at least the California Zephyr from San Franciscco to Chicago) goes along the moffat route thru Colorado. Very rarely does it go up to Cheyenne and over. I'm not sure about other Amtrak trains but the Zephyr definitely goes thru the Rocky mountains and not up to Wyoming.