if you'd like to travel back in time and experience the romance of the rails in the old west, barry petersenou how to punch your ticket. >> reporter: this was once the sound and fury of the west. a wilderness conquered by steam and coal. in this remote part of colorado and new mexico, on the scene i can railroad, steam and coal will take you to the west that was. >>> so this really settled the west, this railroad. >> this settled the west. >> reporter: do we see what it's like today? >> we'll see the world as it existed 140 years ago. >> reporter: john bush is >>> no paved roads, no power lines and no parking lots. >> this is essentially a time capsule, 64 miles of 1880. and once you get out of town, it is the authentic west. not the hollywood west, but the real west, the way it actually was. >> reporter: cell phones, smartphones? >> none of that stuff works as soon as you get out of town. >> reporter: its roots go deep. built to bring prospecters for the gold rush of the late 1800s. taken over in 1970 by people who wanted, not just to preserve it, but to give others a railroad experience fr