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

On Twitter:

@COPublicRadio

@nbminor

Correction: An earlier version of this episode incorrectly said Seattle had built a light rail system in the 1990s. The reference has been removed.