With a brown cloud hovering overhead and a second-place football team, Denver had dreams of becoming a world-class city. But it wasn't until the turn of the millennium that it found a way to get there: trains. Part 1 of 4.

Hosted and reported by Nathaniel Minor
Editors: Erin Jones, Joe Wertz
Production and mixing: Rebekah Romberg
Additional production: Luis Antonio Perez
Theme song by Daniel Mescher. Additional music via Universal Production Music.
Artwork: Mia Rincón
Executive producers: Kevin Dale, Brad Turner 
Additional editorial support: Jo Erickson, Alison Borden, Rachel Estabrook, Ana Campbell, Sherkiya Wedgeworth-Hollowell, Andrew Villegas, Dave Burdick 
Archival tape thanks: Heather Dalton and Dominic Dezzutti at CPT-12; Tim Wieland and Steve Vriesman at CBS4 Denver; Kevin Krug at KMGH Denver7.
Thanks also to Kim Nguyen, Jodi Gersh, Clara Shelton, Hart Van Denburg.
Ghost Train is a production of CPR News and Colorado Public Radio's Audio Innovations Studio.

www.cpr.org/podcast/ghost-train
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Correction: An earlier version of this episode incorrectly said Seattle had built a light rail system in the 1990s. The reference has been removed.