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, you should have recently received a card in the postal mail from the Club advising you of your new membership with the Colorado Railroad Museum. Going forward, news and updates will continue via e-mail, moving away from printed and mailed materials. Up until August 1, questions can be directed to Rocky Club president Dave Goss at dave@dcgoss.com or (303) 717-8941. After the first of August, questions should be directed to the Museum.
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. Welcome aboard.
Paul Hammond Dave Schaaf
Executive Director Rail Report Editor
Bringing Up the Rear: If you were a current (paid) member of the Club as of April 2025, the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club will have it’s annual barbecue picnic on Sunday, August 17th, at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. We have mailed out these details, so please plan to attend. We need your RSVP by Friday, August 8th.
Coming up on August 16th, 2025 is the annual Boreas Pass Railroad Day in Como, Colorado. The Club has been very supportive of the restorations going on in that area, and encourages you to go have a look and enjoy the brass band. More information can be found here.
| |
Rail-Related Updates
- Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are having advanced discussions about a possible merger of these railroads. Even if both companies wanted to move forward, the process of gaining approval from the Department of Justice and the Surface Transportation Board could take a few years.
- Grand Canyon Railway plans to run steam on August 2, 16, and 30 in Arizona.
- The Colorado Railroad Museum has partnered with the Durango Railroad Historical Society and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to facilitate two historic locomotive loans in 2025-2026. Rio Grande Southern steam locomotive 20 will travel from Golden to Durango this fall to operate special winter excursions in January and February 2026, retracing parts of its cinematic route from the 1950 film A Ticket to Tomahawk. Meanwhile, Denver & Rio Grande Western locomotive 315 will arrive in Golden this fall to power THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride and participate in a “Florence & Cripple Creek Reunion” during the Museum’s Colorado Crossings event in May 2026. In addition, Rio Grande Southern caboose 0404 is undergoing restoration in Durango and may join RGS 20 for its winter excursions. Tickets for RGS 20’s excursions are now available at www.DurangoTrain.com.
- There will be an open house with Denver & Intermountain Railroad Car 25 on September 20th in Lakewood, Colorado. Click Here for details!
Come take a ride! This interurban car was owned and restored by the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club for about 60 years.
| |
When the Denver Tramway Company converted the metro Denver system to buses in 1950, the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club purchased this interurban car. The Club displayed this wooden car at the Colorado Railroad Museum until 1988, when it was moved to its current location for restoration. Image © by Bruce Nall.
| |
Rail Watch
Current highlights and on-the-ground happenings in railroading today.
| |
BNSF Railway had their fire fighting train with four tank cars and caboose BNSF 999015 out on Joint Line main track on July 14, 2025. Multiple fires had broken out along this track between Big Lift and Louviers, CO, on Sunday, July 13, 2025. A Douglas County helicopter was deployed along with multiple fire departments to suppress and contain the wildfires. ©2025 Chip Sherman
| |
BNSF watered down the Joint Line right of way on July 14, 2025. The fire outbreak was called the ‘Airport Road Fire’ which burned just over 130 acres. The BNSF Fire Train is based in Denver, Colorado. ©2025 Chip
| |
Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy Alco 4-8-8-4 pulled out of Cheyenne, WY, at 10:00 a.m. on July 17, for a trip to Denver, CO, with 18 passenger cars. Riding the special was Rocky Mountain Railroad Club member and past-president Jim Ehernberger. Jim worked for many years with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne. ©2025 Chip
| |
The Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Unit, Union Pacific 1616, was part of the steam special that departed Cheyenne, WY, on July 17, 2025. ©2025 Chip
| |
Union Pacific’s 4014 Big Boy handled an 18-car passenger special from Cheyenne, WY, with a stop at Greeley, CO, into Denver, CO, on Thursday, July 17, 2025. The train received a warm welcome at Greeley, where hundreds of folks greeted the special during its 45-minute service stop. In this photo, the train is being turned east of Union Station in Denver. This was the only scheduled outing for the Big Boy in 2025. Bigger steam outings are being planned for 2026 - America’s 250th Anniversary. ©2025 Chip
| |
Union Pacific 1616 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Unit and 4044 departed Cheyenne, WY, before 5:00 p.m. with the 15-car passenger special for Denver on Saturday, July 19, 2025. This was the first time that the Abraham Lincoln unit
has led a train. ©2025 Chip
| |
Union Pacific 1616 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Unit handled the 15-car executive train from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Denver, CO, on Saturday, July 19, 2025. This paint scheme was applied by U.P. to mark the 16th President’s signing of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. ©2025 Chip
| |
Rocky Mountain Rail Preservation
A Tale of Three Locomotives (part 1)
By John Bush
Three D&RG(W) steam engines were donated to cities served by the Rio Grande before the start of World War Two.
T-12 #168 was donated to Colorado Springs, Colorado on August 1,1938.
T-12 #169 was donated to Alamosa, Colorado on April, 12, 1941.
C-16 #223 was leased to Salt Lake City, Utah in December 1941.
Engine 168 has been restored to operating condition and is leased to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR . It resides in Antonito, Colorado when not being run out on the line. The T-12s were set aside in the 1920s after the arrival of the K-28s. Number 168 ran it’s last revenue train on May 25, 1933. It then sat in the deadline until early 1937, when it was chosen to be used in the filming of “The Texas Rangers”. For this film, 168 was back-dated with a phony wooden pilot, a fake diamond stack, and a genuine D&RG oil-burning headlight.
| |
After the filming of the movie in May of 1937, the locomotive returned to the Alamosa dead line. In the spring of 1938, Colorado Springs requested a locomotive for display in Antlers Park to commemorate the early days of the railroad that William Jackson Palmer had founded along with the founding of the City of Colorado Springs. Because 168 was too small to be of any use to the D&RGW and was in a presentable if ersatz condition, it was chosen for donation to the City. It was presented and dedicated on August 1, 1938.
In the spring of 1981 I signed a $20,000 contract with Colorado Springs to restore the locomotive cosmetically to the way it appeared shortly after receiving a new boiler in 1915. Having sat out in the weather in Antlers Park for 43 years, the 168 was in need of restoration.
| |
An automatic sprinkler system had watered the tender for several years and the
wooden tender frame was rotted and falling apart.
The metal water tank was also rusted through in several places and the wooden cab was badly deteriorated. Even though it sat behind an ornamental iron fence, the tender and cab were being used as a flop house for what were then called hobos or winos. The firebox was filled with liquor bottles, wine bottles, and beer cans. Surprisingly, though it was in poor condition, the locomotive had not been vandalized or robbed of its bell, whistle, injectors, water glass, gauge cocks, safety valves, or headlight with nickel-plated reflector.
With help from my long-time friend Fred Oster, we fabricated a new frame made from channel steel with the same dimensions as the original wooden frame. The original brackets and hardware were attached to the new frame. Visually the appearance of the frame is the same as a new wooden frame. The advantage is that it is stronger and protected against rot. The wooden cab was partially disassembled, and all the rotted parts were replaced with redwood.
| |
| While not as strong as the original oak it provided good weather resistance. The method of compression joinery used in the original was used in the repair. New windows and doors were fabricated and installed with plexiglass glazing to resist weather and breakage.
| |
The boiler insulation was properly removed and disposed of. The space taken up by the insulation was filled using a framework of 1X2” boards set on edge to provide a strong, well-supported but well-ventilated base for the new jacket.
This method kept water from collecting against the shell of the boiler and protected the shell and rivet heads from rust deterioration. Using the remains of the original boiler jacket as a pattern a new jacket was made using Paintlok. Paintlok is an electrogalvanized + phosphatized sheet steel. Unlike the more common galvanized metal it has very good paint adherence as well as rust resistance.
The phony long wooden “cow catcher” was removed, and the rotted pilot sill was replaced. The boiler tube pilot, which was hidden under the phony cow catcher, was repaired and reinstalled. Both front and rear knuckle couplers were acquired and installed.
The original box headlight was repaired and the reflector was re-nickeled. The locomotive did not have marker lamps when donated. When I decided that the final display should be lighted, an attempt was made to locate a pair of lamps. The cost of genuine marker lamps was prohibitive, and they would have been subject to theft.
My friend Fred and I decided to fabricate a pair. Adlake provided goggles and
plastic lenses. We found that the small “pony kegs” of Warsteiner beer
were the right size to provide the bodies. We drank the beer and created two
reasonable looking marker lamps that did not invite theft.
The final touch was the recreation of two Baldwin builders' plates. These were done by borrowing the plates that Bob Richardson had cast for the 346, casting an aluminum copy, grinding off the number, making foundry numbers with the right font, waxing them on the aluminum copy and casting them in brass. Several were cast and given to people who had been instrumental in the restoration.
| |
During the restoration, it became clear to me that the original iron fence was
not adequate to protect the locomotive from theft and vandalism. Any higher, more imposing fence or wall would ruin the possibility of getting a good view of the engine. The solution was to build a new lighted enclosure for 168 and raise it up where it could be both seen and protected.I approached the city and they agreed to a proposal to raise the track, build 4 brick light stations, and rebuild the fence. The final display included lighted headlight, marker lights, cab lights, and 4 quartz lamps at ground level in the brick stations that came on at dusk and stayed on till dawn.
The restoration was completed in 1984 for approximately $30,000. Even though
in the 30 years between 1984 and 2014 the character of the park changed from a family “mom and kids have a picnic” park to a homeless encampment with significant drug and alcohol issues, the display remained unvandalized.
The restoration to operating condition will be discussed in the next installment.
| |
A bit of Rocky Mountain Railroad Club History
By Jim Ehernberger
| |
The Rocky Mountain Railroad Club was well-known for operating an annual three-day narrow-gauge excursion between Alamosa and Silverton over the Memorial Day weekend. A friend took these images representing 1965. The year following was the last time such trips were available. Hard to imagine today, it was a bargain fare of only $21.00 for adults, and $11.00 for children, and 389 people were on board. One Club member, Forrest Bahm, Postmaster from Shelby, Nebraska, was on the trip and photographed these images arranged by Club Trip Chairman Ed Haley. The top view, on May 29th, depicts Rio Grande engine 483 handling the excursion train around famous Tanglefoot Curve approaching Cumbres Pass while an indication of heavy snow conditions remained. On the second day, May 30th (center photo), engine 476 was the power to Silverton. Two cars were left at Durango, to save the use of a helper. This image is shown at the new bridge crossing the Animas River a short distance below Elk Park. The lower view on May 31st is an image of engine 483 at another photo run-by at the Navajo siding, water tank and river crossing. Typical of our special excursions, run-by locations were available at places somewhat inaccessible by good roads.
| |
A Storied Run
By Rick Malo
| |
To say that the run is ‘storied’ would perhaps be cliché---
Though few other words could describe it adequately as such.
While ‘legendary’ or ‘celebrated’ or some other adjective that
evokes heady and pleasant memories, real or imagined, might fit
the bill, in reality if one were to put them all into a Stetson hat,
close one’s eyes, reach in and draw out a selection, it would bring
us right back here.
In our youth, we dreamed of going places, the fires of fancy being
stoked by those who had already been there. They had brought
with them their glass plate boxes and their Speed Graphics and
immortalized in image and word all that they saw, and in turn
stocked their wares at the newsstand and on the shelves of
libraries and bookstores, there for young and pliable minds to
absorb and develop an affection for, the deepness of which could--
-would at times, rival that of physical love.
We longed to turn the clock back a generation or so to the last
decades of the Old West and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with
them, the smoke and cinders rising skyward from double-headed
and diamond-stacked Class 45-1/2s as the little engines pulled a
string of dark red Pullmans around the flank of Mount Ouray and
down into the Gunnison Country.
Their black & white and sepia-toned images allowed us the ability
to close our eyes and hold our breaths, and hear the chuffing
locomotive and squealing flanges and waters rushing deep within
the canyon of the Animas River near Rockwood---Almost.
It was the late-1930s version of Richard Kindig who helped drive
in the first nail when he captured No. 454 as she breasted the
Cerro grade and rolled a short freight downhill towards Montrose,
a scene first brought to us in the pages of Beebe as the volume was
liberated from beneath the Christmas tree, 8-year-old hands
trembling enthusiastically in their haste to remove the bows and
wrappings.
Along with the caption that Lucius penned about miniature Mikes
and mountain grades, it set for us the archetypal image of a
Mudhen in purpose and place and form; she was a lady for certain
whose essence bespoke of the early-Vauclain era, her high domes
and tall stack and wooden cab lending a somewhat antiquated
nobility to her, a class and grace from another age that was absent
in the brutish forms that would begin to appear on the roster in
the 1920s. And, when coupled with her round brass number plate
and inboard-canted cylinders, counterbalances heaving-to at each
stroke of the pistons as they wheeled tonnage through the
sagebrush-covered uplands, there was little to prevent us from
becoming enamored.
We would long to stand as witness to such, and mourn that we could not.
The fact that we were smitten by them seemingly defies all logic.
We would come to know the shortcomings; the economic frailties
of little trains traversing terrain whose spectacular nature was
rivaled only by its harshness, leading certainly to their doom.
And end they did; the Mudhens, save for two, found no compassion
from the scrappers, their worn-out forms deemed surplus as the miles of
narrow-gauge trackage disappeared from the mountains.
Yet romantics, in the truest sense, love an underdog, and there is
no place for logic in romance. It is our burden to pine for the past,
and in that, sometimes little boy dreams die a hard death, and
take our hearts with them.
But sometimes they come true.
It was for us to make our own pilgrimage to the high country,
where the carpet of sage upon the great plateau of the old Taos
Pueblo is still heady in its fragrance and grows near tie’s-end, the
tiny tridentata leaves waving in reverence to the sharp exhaust, a
magical smudge of coal smoke and cinders drifting about them,
heavy counterbalances flailing faithfully as shiny red Tourist
Pullmans clack along on jointed rail past the visage of Mount San
Antonio, an assemblage carrying the timecarding of the venerated
San Juan back when it was still the lifeline for all things between
Alamosa and Durango.
| |
We are but the proverbial ‘stone’s throw’ from where the old Chili
Line hugged the eastern shadows of the ancient and long-dormant
volcano as it weaved its way down to Santa Fé, there to create its
own legend and following, the grade still discernable for those
wishing to genuflect upon its earthen form and mourn with the
ghosts of Richardson and Perry and all the others who came here
to record the little trains before the winds of the San Luis washed
their smoke forever from the skies.
We will pay little attention to the jet trails overhead at 30,000
feet; they were not around a hundred years ago, which is precisely
where our state of mind is as we wind our way towards Lava on
perhaps the most storied railroad run of all.
We’ve paid our fare, heard the cry of “All Aboooaaard!” and had our
ticket punched for a little boy’s dream trip to Yesteryear.
Our grip has stayed tight to those dreams, just as tight as we hang
on now to the edge of the open gondola as a 120-year-old Baldwin
wheels around a curve and climbs faithfully into the San Juan
Mountains, where we’ll bathe ourselves in the smoke and cinders
as they rain down upon us, a baptism of sorts as we climb higher
and higher towards Cumbres.
Come evening on the morrow, we’ll tread where the others have,
the sage sweet as it swishes at the cuff of our jeans, there to watch
her roll home in all her grace and glory, the gloom of a spreading
thunderstorm not dampening her spirit one bit. Nor ours.
And as we stand on the cusp of the great plateau, watching the
smoke fade, her whistle echoing throughout the valley as she
approaches Antonito, we’ll cast a glance to the heavens and
whisper a “thank you” to the spirits of Kindig and Beebe and Vauclain.
It was they who allowed us to dream.
And, with a smile beaming and a heart full,
we’ll walk away, stepping as a time traveler would across the decades.
And as we do, we realize--8-years-old may have been a long
time ago---But really, it was only yesterday.
--
Story and imagery by Rick Malo ©2025
| |
San Luis Valley Southern 105 at Blanca, Colorado, in November of 1948. This locomotive is similar to the D&RGW 683 at the Colorado Railroad Museum. From the collection of Martin E. Hansen, who says that the negative sleeve for this image
does not have information on it about the original photographer.
| |
Content contributions this month from Chip Sherman, John Bush,
Jim Ehernberger, Rick Malo, Martin E. Hansen and Dave Schaaf.
Editorial assistance from Dave Schaaf, Paul Hammond and Maddie Schaaf.
| |
| Thanks to our generous Sponsors & Partners
| |
|
|
|
|
