"The more things change..."

"The more they stay they same. " At least that's how the old adage goes. Today sees the official opening of the RTD 'Train to the Plane' route that will wind it's way from Union Station downtown to Denver International Airport. Denver's commuter rail system of course is really nothing new, although today's routes cater more to modern needs. Old-time Denverites will remember riding trolley cars on the Denver Tramway system which operated from 1886 through 1950 when it sold its assets and operations to the City and County of Denver. The city continued those operations under the name Denver Metro Transit until 1974, when they were assumed by the voter-approved Regional Transportation District (RTD).

Denver Tramway route system toward the end of its 64 year run

Originally running on narrow gauge rails (3'6" wide versus the standard 4'8 1/2") the Denver Tramway ran a variety of streetcars through the years from horse-drawn Cars to Conduit Cars (where the power rails for conduit are contained in a vault between and underneath the running rails; Denver's system was the world's second electric street railway) to Cable Cars (where rail cars are hauled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed; individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required) to Trolley Cars. Today's riders of the new "University of Colorado A Line" will perhaps notice that the rail cars used on the trip to the airport are different from the Light Rail cars they are more used to. The University of Colorado, which has a sponsorship deal for the new route, precedes Denver's original Tramway system by 10 years having been created in 1876 five months before Colorado achieved Statehood.

The rate for the 22.8 mile 'A Line' journey is $9, or about 39 cents per mile. That's still a deal given that the

IRS calculates the current cost of operating an automobile for business purposes at 54 cents per mile. The original 1886 Tramway fare was a whopping 5 cents fixed rate that would allow you to ride all of the system's 8 miles. The Tram was as popular in its day as the new A Line is sure to be today. In 1877 the Tramway was operating 12 cars pulled by 32 horses and carrying more than 392,000 passengers. By comparison, RTD's first light rail line, a 5.3-mile (8.5 km) section (the 'D' Line) opened on Friday, October 7, 1994 and it was estimated that more than 200,000 passengers rode the new system during its two-and-a-half day opening weekend. That Friday-Sunday was free to ride as will be the A Line today and tomorrow.  Of course there was a slight difference in population between then and now - in 1880 Denver's population was 35,629 (does that mean they all rode the tram 11 times?) with today's Denver metro area boasting nearly 2.9 million and 100,000 people moving to Colorado in 2015 alone.

One of my coworkers, Doretha, took today off at least in part to be one of the first to ride the new route. I don't believe she's quite old enough to have ridden the original Tramway system but I'd hazard a guess that perhaps her parents did. She'll always remember riding the 'Train to the Plane' on the very first day of operation. What she probably doesn't know is that you can still ride one of the Denver Tramway cars. Now known as the Platte Valley Trolley, Car No. 25 is the last remaining, completely intact, electric railway car out of over 250 that once served the Denver area. Built in 1911 it runs along tracks between Sports Authority Field and REI's downtown store.

As I said, the more things change...