Emily Begin’s workplace isn’t for everyone: It can be cold and windy, the work is strenuous and she and her colleagues have to be vigilant about lightning strikes. Still, she loves working for The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway as a section crew assistant foreman.
Every day is different on those 8.9 miles of track on the mountain.
Sometimes, she’s cutting dead branches off a tree so they won’t fall onto the tracks. Or she’s drilling into a solid wall of ice so it won’t crowd the tracks. Sometimes, she’s breaking up a large rock so it won’t roll onto the tracks, or digging a trench in a deep snowbank so that snowmelt will run downhill.
At this time, the crew totals just seven people, and Begin, the only woman, supervises three.
Everything Begin and her co-workers do is about safety — for passengers and the crews taking them to the summit. Another important chore is ensuring that snow and ice don’t impede the operation of rail switches.
You’re basically battling the elements. – Emily Begin
“You’re basically battling the elements in every portion of the job. It’s really just you against the weather, keeping that track open and safe,” the 27-year-old said.
The workers have to keep themselves safe, too. Staying hydrated while burning thousands of calories isn’t easy.
Just walking at 14,000-plus feet is strenuous, and the steel-toed boots they have to wear aren’t made for hiking.
“It’s one of the most challenging things we do,” she said.
Wielding heavy tools isn’t easy on the body, so crewmembers have to be mindful of how they’re moving their bodies.
They have to be mentally focused, too, so they don’t slip on the peak’s abundant loose rock or lose control of a major tool like a power saw or a drill.
“You can be as physically fit as anybody, but it’s the mental game. It really is, between the weather and being able to do a hard task like shoveling or something repetitive like that for 5, 6, 7 hours,” she said.
“Your muscles get tired, you get sore, but you’re like, ‘I got this, I can keep going.’”
She’s always been outdoorsy, Begin said. Growing up in Maine, she was a “gym rat” and majored in physical education in college. She played softball for years and has taught kickboxing and swimming.
Those skills are what brought Begin to Colorado and a job at a summer camp. She visited Manitou Springs and fell in love, as people tend to do.
“I’m so thankful for this funny, weird little mountain town,” she said.
The top of America’s mountain is a long way — and a whole ’nother world — from the downtown shop she worked in when she first moved to Manitou in April 2020.
Then, she heard about a job opportunity on the Cog Railway. Even though she’d never worked on a railroad before, she decided to give it a try.
“You don’t need experience to join, which is great, because I had barely even picked up a drill before I did any of this,” Begin said.
She put on a dress and hoped her nervousness wouldn’t show when she sat down for an interview with a manager in one of the railway’s sheds.
“I walked in there like I knew what I was doing. It worked.”
Begin was the first woman that manager, a 12-year Cog veteran, had ever hired. She started on a section crew in July 2022. Despite her inexperience, she must be doing it right, because she’s been promoted twice already.
The men Begin supervises have totally accepted her as the boss.
“I’ve been treated so fairly and so nicely. Everyone treats everyone with respect. And it’s a really great group of guys,” she said.
The camaraderie is so strong that once in a while, heading back down the mountain, they’ll sing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” and someone will join in with his harmonica.
Begin has been able to check all the boxes for her ideal job: “I love the mountain. I love being outside. I love learning.”
She doesn’t want to think about leaving, because she’d miss the mountain so much.
What would she tell young women wanting to follow in her steel-toed footsteps?
“I would always tell them to be yourself. And if you have a dream or idea that you think would be fun or cool, do it despite anything or anyone,” she said.
“The past few years, I’ve lived outside my comfort zone and I’ve grown so much. And that’s another thing I would tell young women: Don’t stay in your comfort zone. … Life is an adventure if you make it one.”