Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railway

The Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railway was a railroad in Colorado incorporated in 1880.

The railroad originally proposed a line extending the Colorado Central Railroad from Georgetown to Breckenridge and Leadville. Soon after, the goal turned into linking Colorado Central to the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad (DSP&P), which already had trackage to Breckenridge and Leadville. By linking up with the DSP&P's Keystone branch, it would provide both the DSP&P and the Colorado Central with a very direct route between Denver and Leadville and to compete with the much larger Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Construction began out of Georgetown in 1883 with obstacles encountered. A six percent grade would be required between Georgetown and its neighbor Silver Plume, Colorado. This would be the first step at reaching the DSP&P in Keystone. The towns were only 2 miles (3.2 km) miles apart but due to a six percent grade, the railroad was 4.5 miles (7.2 km) miles long in order to decrease the grade to 3 percent. The problem with this was that the valley was narrow so the route included two hairpin turns and a viaduct where the route looped 100 feet (30 m) over itself. This portion would become the Georgetown Loop segment of the railroad. Track was extended quickly to Graymont from Silver Plume. The railroad would be constructed through Loveland Pass, although insufficient funds to complete a tunnel made the line incomplete. GB&L was absorbed shortly after into the much larger Colorado Central and track between Graymont and Silver Plume was abandoned, but the Georgetown loop between Georgetown and Silver Plume became part of the Colorado Central.

Later, Colorado Central became the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway which was later merged with DSP&P to become the Colorado and Southern Railway. The Georgetown loop survived until 1939. In the 1980s, it was rebuilt as a tourist line.