Union Depot—Last Trains

Passenger service on the Colorado & Southern and the Denver & Rio Grande Western was terminated in Pueblo in 1967, as seen on the schedule board in this photograph taken in December 1969. As quoted in a 1978 Pueblo Chieftain, the last passenger ticket was issued here on April 30, 1971, for travel on the A. T. & Santa Fe. “Account Amtrack.” Gone were the days when as many as 20-25 passenger trains pulled into Pueblo’s Union Depot every day, on lines operated by the Missouri Pacific and the Rock Island, as well as those listed above. During the Second World War, especially, the Depot was extremely busy, with scores of tired, hungry servicemen coming through in troop trains.

In the early 1950s a roundtrip excursion from Pueblo to Denver cost $4.40. Bellcaps scurried to help, and waiters on longer trips beamed as they served Rock Cornish game hen and deep dish apple pie on fine china with gleaming silverware.

From 1945 until his death in 1985, Union Depot “Redcap No. 1,” Carl Thomas, became well known worldwide as Pueblo’s Ambassador of Good Will.

—Photograph by Jerry Aschermann