A BAD PENNY COMES BACK. The Denver to Winter Park ski train is ceasing operation for this season.

Iowa Pacific Holdings LLC on Monday said it won't be able to operate the ski train this season after failing to resolve differences with Amtrak. The company was negotiating to use Amtrak crews.

The Chicago-based Iowa Pacific claims last-minute demands by Amtrak for insurance coverage derailed the effort. A federal judge last week rejected the company's request for a temporary restraining order against Amtrak that would have allowed it to start running the train last weekend.

Iowa Pacific President Ed Ellis said the railroad had to cancel what would have been the train's 70th season because it relies on advance reservations and they were halted last week. He said the company has refunded most of the 13,000 reservations that were sold.

I would strongly urge any passengers who have not yet received their refund to pursue them aggressively. Years ago, Mr Ellis was president of something called Golden Arrow Railtours in the midwest. His company scheduled an excursion train, using vintage coaches and diesels, that would run from Milwaukee to Green Bay and return on the Lake Shore Division, now torn up, of the Chicago & North Western. I sent the company a check and received a ticket. The company subsequently cancelled the trip, but never sent me a refund. I see Mr Ellis is still up to his old tricks, running vapor train trips.

Here's more on the history of the ski train, a Denver institution of long standing that once ran with classic coaches handed down from Northern Pacific that also starred in a very bad made-for-TV movie called Runaway.