A Long Tradition
This issue of the Colorado Railroad Museum Rail Report continues the long tradition of information sent to members of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, keeping them up to date on current events and Club happenings. As the Rocky Club becomes part of the Museum, we’re excited to share the Rail Report with anyone interested in following the continuing stories of Colorado railroading, preservation and more!
For those of you who are members of the Rocky Club and were unable to attend the picnic on August 17th, you should have recently received your membership card in the postal mail from the Colorado Railroad Museum. If you haven't yet received your card or have any questions about your membership at the Museum, please reach out to Membership Manager Maddie Schaaf at maddie@crrm.org.
If you have received this email as a forward from someone else, please click here to continue receiving the Rail Report monthly. And if you know of someone who might be interested, please forward and share!
We’re delighted to continue a long tradition with a new look and feel. All aboard!
Paul Hammond Dave Schaaf
Executive Director Rail Report Editor
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Rail-Related Updates
- Coming up soon in New Mexico: Albuquerque Railroad Days September 27-28, 2025. The event will include a standard-gauge steam-up and more! For more information, visit www.2926.us.
- Union Pacific engine 4014, the Big Boy, will make a trip south from Cheyenne to Denver on September 30. It returns to Wyoming the next day. No public visitation is planned in Denver. The locomotive is scheduled to make two brief stops in northern Colorado. https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/schedule
- The Colorado Railroad Museum recently unveiled a new exhibit featuring the winners of the 2025 Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s John E. Gruber Awards. Centered on the theme “Smoke,” this year’s display includes work by longtime Rocky Mountain Railroad Club member James Ehernberger, whose photography was among the honored selections. Installed along the main hallway and staircase of the Museum Depot, the exhibit presents 16 striking images that capture both the artistry and atmosphere of railroading. Jim’s photograph is shown below.
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Rail Watch
Current highlights and regional happenings.
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Private cars Warren R. Henry (dome lounge) and Evelyn Henry (sleeper) looked sharp at East Portal, Colorado, on Union Pacific’s Moffat Tunnel Subdivision, Monday, 15 September 2025. Note that the aspens were beginning to change. Amtrak’s California Zephyr, train #5, was about to enter the Moffat Tunnel. Note the fresh ballast on the main and siding. ©2025 Chip
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The Warren R. Henry (dome lounge) sits outside Denver Union Station in September 2025. In late August, Amtrak changed some policies regarding private cars attached to its trains. Some routes will now not allow private cars, and the addition or dropping of private cars has been suspended in many cities. This could mean that private cars won’t be parked overnight at Denver Union Station and other usual Amtrak stops. Also, private cars may not always be positioned at the rear of trains. ©2025 Chip
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Freshly painted BNSF 6017, a 25th Anniversary unit with a BNSF crew member on the Joint Line at Englewood, Colorado, 5 September 2020. The multiple logos on the unit are to honor some of the predecessor railroads that are now part of BNSF Railway. ©2020 Chip
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Re-Painting Update
The Colorado Railroad Museum is thrilled to share that Denver & Rio Grande Western F9A No. 5771 and F9B No. 5762 have received fresh coats of paint! Completed this week, the locomotives now gleam in the classic black-and-gold single-stripe livery they wore during their final years of service on the Rio Grande Zephyr.
While the installation of freshly polished chrome grills and other signature details like re-lettering and numbering will take a bit longer to reinstall, the locomotives already shine with their renewed finish. Stay tuned for more updates as the project progresses!
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Denver & Rio Grande Western 5771, an F9 A-unit, is resplendent in fresh Rio Grande gold as of September 16, 2025 at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. Lettering and numbers will be applied in the coming weeks. Santa Fe "last Wig-Wag" signal is at left, after a thunderstorm. ©2025 Chip
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The Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 18 navigates the Red Narrows of Spanish Fork Canyon on July 1, 1979. F9A No. 5771 is making its first trip from Salt Lake City to Denver in fresh DuPont Imron Aspen Gold, silver, and black paint. Photo Courtesy of and Copyright by James Belmont.
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Rocky Mountain Rail Preservation
A Tale of Three Locomotives (part 3)
By John Bush
D&RG engine No. 169 bears construction number 7028 and was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1883. It went to work on the Rio Grande system-wide. With the advent of standard gauging, she spent most of her time on the third and fourth divisions in Colorado.
While on the third division, she held down the “Shavano” for a good deal of time, primarily because the rails west of Gunnison were never upgraded, and the bigger engines could not travel there.
She moved down south and spent time on the Chili Line hauling passenger, mixed trains, and freight trains until that line was upgraded to allow the K-28 class locomotives to operate there.
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She was involved in at least three wrecks, which resulted in fatalities to crew members. One was on the Silverton branch, one on the current Cumbres & Toltec just east of Toltec, and one on the Chili Line. In all three accidents, the ICC reports determined that the No. 169 crews were not at fault.
The most well-known wreck occurred on September 29, 1922 at milepost 309.8, 2/3 miles east of Toltec. When rebuilt, she received a new cylinder casting. This casting is set at a slight angle, making it different than all the other T-12s. She was retired in 1938 but was pulled from the deadline in Alamosa and cosmetically restored by the railroad at Burnham Shops in Denver for display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and Western Railroad Expansion Exhibit. After touring the railroad as a special exhibit, the 169 was donated to the city of Alamosa on April 12, 1941 and placed on display.
Over the years, employees of the Alamosa shop would regularly oil and lubricate the locomotive just to keep it up. That ended with the closing of the Alamosa shops in 1969. In 1960, ownership was transferred from the city of Alamosa to the Alamosa Chamber of Commerce and it was their decision to work on restoring the locomotive in the late 1990s first cosmetically, and then exploring the possibility of returning it to steam operation. That’s where the Friends organization came into being.
After the pandemic, the Chamber of Commerce transferred ownership of the locomotive back to the City of Alamosa.
The Friends of the No. 169 group was established in 1999 to restore the locomotive to operating condition. They have secured a new headlight that matched the one that was on the engine while in service, fabricated doors and windows for the cab and getting them placed as well as completely recalculating the form 4, so that we know what we will need in order to recertify the boiler. Three patches could be required: two to the mud ring where the rear driver has cut into the boiler firebox, and a possible third to cut out a dent in the boiler shell caused when the engine rolled in one of the wrecks, where the dent was made by its air pump. Current understanding is that the dent can be heated and reset without having to have a patch applied. The proposed form 4 paperwork detailed what that patch would look like. It was provisionally approved by the FRA, subject to the repairs being properly completed.
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In 1999 a grant was received from what is now “History Colorado” for $14,000 to do an assessment and scope of work. That scope of work and cost estimate indicated that the restoration could be completed for roughly $280,000 although it indicated that the cost might be adjusted after more thorough disassembly. In 2000, a grant of $99,000 was obtained from History Colorado to rebuild the tender with a new tank and restore the frame so that it could be operated. The required matching contribution came from the Narrow Gauge Preservation Fund. That work was completed in 2003.
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During the time when No. 168 was being restored by the Cumbres & Toltec, the railroad was approached about funding the restoration of No. 169 and operating it on the C&TS. The owners of No. 169 stipulated that while the locomotive could be operated on the railroad, when not in use it would have to be stored on display in Alamosa. The unwillingness of that City to negotiate a long-term lease where the engine was under control of the C&TS made the proposed arrangement unworkable.
Further restoration work is on hold awaiting what is now estimated to be $500,000 to do the boiler and running gear work necessary to return the 169 to operating condition. The current plans are to at a minimum continue to maintain the artifacts and repairable condition and pursue funding avenues for full restoration.
The Friends of No. 169 group has also undertaken the restoration of business car B1. At this time the primary effort on the B1 has been stabilization.
Unfortunately, municipalities that own historic railroad artifacts have not been willing or able to invest the resources necessary to protect and maintain the donated equipment. Over the years, volunteer groups have started preservation/ restoration projects only to run up against an inability to raise the funding necessary to complete the projects
The Friends have received assurances from successive C&TS operators and the Bi-State Commission to allow operation on the C&TS. The Durango & Silverton has, in past years, expressed an interest as well. Now that the D&S has converted completely to oil as fuel, a visit may only be possible during the winter when snow is present, due to fire danger from coal cinders.
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Special thanks to Jerry Day, who wrote “Rio Grande’s T-12 Locomotives,” and Charles Proudfoot for providing information and images for this article.
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A bit of Rocky Mountain Railroad Club History
By Jim Ehernberger
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The Club’s first Chicago, Burlington & Quincy excursion was in August 1958. It operated from Denver to Lyons via Lafayette, Erie, Longmont and return, using Colorado & Southern engine 646. The five-car train included two streamlined coaches and three heavyweight cars. The cost of this trip over the freight-only Lyons branch was $5.00. Guests brought picnic lunches. Due to the hot weather and quality of fuel, the 646 (an oil-burning locomotive) caused a number of fires on the return trip. While stopped at Church’s Lake (near the present-day Highway 36 overpass, south of Broomfield), the fireman was sprayed with oil that ignited. He jumped into the lake and extinguished the fire with no injuries. The train was also stopped in Broomfield by Fire Department authorities who were upset by the fires. The Lyons Fire Department provided water for the tender during the two-and-a-half hour layover for lunch.
Lyons Branch trains had trackage rights over the Colorado & Southern (C&S) between Denver and Burns Junction (located about one mile beyond the Broomfield station). At that point, the distance to Lyons is slightly over 48 miles. The stations served were Lafayette, Erie, Plumbs, Idaho Creek, Jessum, and Longmont. At Longmont, a diamond rail crossing was made with the (C&S) main line to Cheyenne. West of Longmont, the stations passed were Hygiene, Medbery and Lyons, with the line terminating at milepost 48.55 just west of the Lyons station. In the early years, numerous coal mines operated in the Lafayette and Erie areas. The balance of the line primarily handled agricultural products, especially sugar beets, during the fall season. Later, gravel and rock quarries developed in the Lyons area.
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More Photos from the Club Picnic in August.
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Maddie Schaaf and Jim Ehernberger were getting members and guests checked in at the CRRM pavilion. Photo by Chip.
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Bill Gould and Frank Stapleton. Photo by Dave Schaaf
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John Bush with Ed Dickens and Ana. Photo by Dave Schaaf
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Content contributions this month from Chip Sherman, John Bush,
Jim Ehernberger and James Belmont.
Editorial assistance from Paul Hammond and Maddie Schaaf.
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| Thanks to our generous Sponsors & Partners
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