Golden, Colorado -
Old Train Car Wind-break

It's very hard to see, but if you look to the right as you go south on Hwy 93, just south of Hwy 72 (Coal Creek Canyon), you can see a train of old railroad cars positioned on the mesa by the base of the mountains around the "Big 10 Curve."

It is a wind-break to stop trains from being blown off the mesa where winds can get up to 70 mph. The railroad permanently filled about a dozen hopper cars with cement and dirt, welded the wheels to the rails and painted them earth tone to blend in with the terrain. There were trains that actually blew the right off the tracks before this was done. It's unclear when it was done, but it was sometime between December 1971 and early 1973. Although it's private railroad property with no trespassing signs, and I don't condone trespassing, I hear it's fun to hike out to the train and climb on, and play in, the cars. [Laura Bloom, 11/23/2006]

[RA: Yes, please avoid trespassing. And unless there are train engineer and conductor mannequins on those cars, it's too far off the highway for us...]