A Long Tradition
This issue of the Rail Report continues the long tradition of this newsletter, originally published by the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, while embracing a renewed mission and a broader perspective on railroading, past and present. Now produced by the Colorado Railroad Museum, the newsletter carries that legacy forward by connecting longtime Rocky Club members and new readers alike with updates on railroad history, preservation efforts, and today’s railroading landscape across the United States.
Each issue highlights a blend of Rocky Mountain Railroad Club history, preservation and restoration developments, and current rail news, along with progress on Museum projects. In this edition, the Museum is especially excited to share updates on Rio Grande Southern No. 20, which is pulling trains in Durango this January and February for the first time since 1951, a remarkable milestone in Colorado railroad preservation.
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
- The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has hired a contractor to begin its turntable restoration with the first phase: disassembly. Over the course of three weeks recently, the crew slowly pulled apart the table to take the parts back to their shop for rebuilding, and then it will be returned for reassembly.
- The Colorado Rail Passenger Association (ColoRail) works to improve and expand passenger rail and transit services in and through the state of Colorado by advocacy and education.
Traditionally, ColoRail hosts their end-of-year event in December, but with momentous rail negotiations continuing, they thought it would be beneficial to line up the usual event to coincide with those negotiations. ColoRail hosted their annual event on January 21st at a meeting room next to the Governor's Mansion.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis kicked off the meeting with an abbreviated State of the State update that focused upon the passenger rail transportation being developed now. Regarding service in development between Denver and Fort Collins, we heard from a Joint Service Panel with a configuration of the BNSF negotiation team – Front Range Passenger Rail General Manager Sal Pace, RTD General Manager and CEO Debra Johnson, and Governor Polis’ Senior Advisor Lisa Kaufmann – focused on the access agreement and what’s in motion, what’s next, and what decisions are coming.
There was also information about passenger service coming in the next couple of years between Denver and Granby, with plans to add travel to Craig after that.
- In recent weeks, a successful hydrostatic test was performed and passed on Shay No. 12. This narrow-gauge, geared steam engine has been on display at the CRRM since leaving the Georgetown Loop about 20 years ago. It is not owned by the Museum.
The locomotive is being prepared to move to Fish Camp, California, to join her West Side Lumber Company sisters Nos. 10 & 15 at the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. A complete restoration will be done to return her to active service. A special locomotive house is being constructed to care for the engine.
- Central Electric Railfan's Association in Chicago will be presenting a program on February 13 with the first video on Denver Tramways. Below is the presentation notice along with the login instructions for those interested in attending.
To many, the Denver Tramway remains something of a mystery among American streetcar systems. Puzzling, mysterious and in a way difficult to make sense of. It was built on a 42-inch gauge. It even had some streetcars numbered as decimals. And its name had “Tramway” in it which is odd in a country where the European term for streetcars is hardly ever used.
At the height of streetcar operations, Denver Tramway owned more than 160 miles of track and operated over 250 streetcars, most built by Woeber Carriage Company. Hardly a St Louis Car Company or JG Brill streetcar to be found. Another Denver oddity.
With movie clips on hand from various railfan collections, the search was underway for first-person knowledge some seventy-five years after the last streetcar had run in Denver. That knowledge came from John Cox, a native Denverite, and the son of Thurston D. Cox, Denver Tramway’s Superintendent of Transportation at the time of his retirement in 1971.
This program combines the collaboration of Harvey Laner and John Cox through historic films and photographs with lively conversational narration to provide a thorough, comprehensive overview of America’s fascinating mile-high streetcar system.
Harvey Laner, a Chicago native, rode both the “L” and the interurbans serving Chicago’s suburbs, starting his interest in interurban and streetcar operations .Upon moving to Los Angeles, he became involved the railfan community, including being one of the founding members of the Orange Empire Traction Company, today’s Southern California Railway Museum
Harvey has appeared on TV to talk about the streetcar and interurban operations in the Los Angeles area and has written about the Pacific Electric. Harvey has collaborated in the production of his railroad videos with Charles Smiley Presents and regularly presents his video productions at railroad club meetings around the world in person and via Zoom.
There will also be a short “In The News” program preceding the regular program. This program is open to all CERA members, their guests and the public.
Friday, February 13, 2026 7:00 PM (CST) • Virtual zoom
Tiny URL: https://tinyurl.com/CERAthe2ndFriday
CERA ZOOM ID: 814 9251 7167 Passcode: 880028
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Rail Watch
Highlights and regional happenings.
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Rio Grande Southern Engine No. 20 is posed on the Cascade Wye on one of its first trips on the Durango & Silverton. Jeff and Dusty of the CRRM crew were glad to take it out for a longer run than it gets in Golden. Photo courtesy of Jeff Taylor.
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RGS No. 20 recently set up for an early morning photo shoot on the high line. Here, we see a bison, along with Durango & Silverton crew members Jon Walden, Russell Heerdt, and Nick Battelo standing near the tender. Photo courtesy of Dusty Thomson.
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Rio Grande Southern No. 20 over the ashpit at the Durango roundhouse.
Photo courtesy of Dusty Thomson.
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Kyle Railroad C44-9W locomotives No. 4460, in its America 250 commemorative paint scheme, and No. 4461 honoring Veterans and Service Members, lead an eastbound train near Seibert, Colorado, on January 5, 2026, after being repainted at the railroad’s Phillipsburg, Kansas, shop in late 2025. ©2026 Chip
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Rocky Mountain Rail Preservation
Como Reborn Part 2
By John Bush
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Continued from the previous issue.
The Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society was organized in 1998 by Cliff Mestel, focused on preserving the history of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad with publications, organizing tours of former facilities and encouraging future potential restoration and preservation of facilities and railroad cars. When Bob Schoppe became President, he was the initial catalyst to initiate the “Como Effort” to begin restoration of the Como Depot in 2008, overseeing the plans, grant funding production, and restoration.
That effort “lit the fire” of the future of the Como volunteerism effort that continues to this day with the immense, well-organized effort by volunteers to bring the Como Railroad Historical site to become a nationally recognized Narrow Gauge Mountain Railroad Heritage Center. After the Como Depot renovation was completed, volunteers constructed two panels of track in front of the depot which was the beginning of years of track construction to reach the historic Como roundhouse, surrounding turntable tracks into the roundhouse, and main line tracks to the edge of the property that follow the original “foot print” of the Denver, South Park & Pacific railroad tracks at the Como railroad yard. At the beginning of track construction, enough rail and ties were recovered at various locations to get started. But as track construction continued, volunteers began to search and organize efforts to recover additional rail and ties. At one point, it was learned that the City of Breckenridge had accumulated a large inventory of rail from an estate sale with plans to develop an operating narrow-gauge railroad that never materialized. Bob Schoppe made contact with that City, and they let volunteers recover the rail for construction in Como.
The South Park Rail Society was organized in 2016, initiated by Kathy & Chuck Brantigan, to oversee the Como roundhouse that they had purchased with plans to develop an operating narrow gauge railroad Heritage Site, including the preservation of railroad cars and a steam engine.
Both the Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society and the South Park Rail Society work harmoniously and collaboratively, planning feasible preservation and restoration projects together. Two Board members, Tom Lawson and Steve Thompson, serve on both Boards as officers, and maintain vital cross-communication to enable a realistic cadence of communications for productive preservation planning and development of the Como Heritage Site. Both organizations publish and distribute preservation and historic news updates to their members, many of whom are active supporters of both groups. The Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society publishes the “Bogies & the Loop” with editor Bob Schoppe, and the South Park Rail Society publishes the “Como Headlight” with editor Tom Lawson.
The recovery of railroad ties from the BNSF was organized by Tom Lawson beginning in 2017 at a location along the BNSF Front Range Subdivision in Broomfield. This had to be a very well-orchestrated volunteer recovery operation, with BNSF giving written permission, a BNSF track inspector on site for safety, a contractor with a skid-steer with forks for gathering and loading tie bundles, two tractor trailers, banding equipment, and enough volunteers with proper safety apparel to sort, gather and build tie bundles. On their very first tie recovery day, 700 ties were gathered, filling two truckloads that were hauled up to Como. Both non-profit organizations worked together to complete this important material recovery.
That began a very well-organized future volunteer effort that, since that day, has brought from 10 to over 30 volunteers on each work day. Over the past 8 years, volunteers have constructed track at Como, and worked on the ongoing upkeep of the depot. They have carried out preservation and repair work at the Como Roundhouse, heritage site infrastructure maintenance and construction, railroad car preservation and steam locomotive mechanical restoration. They also run the merchandise store, train important volunteer Visitor Hosts and manage membership, donation, and grant funding activities.
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Kathy Brantigan with volunteer Norm Acker, inside the Como roundhouse.
Photo by Dave Schaaf.
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The most important resource at Como is the people. Over the years of the organized volunteer effort, Tom Lawson has created a database of these volunteers. Well-organized work plans are outlined and forwarded to the volunteers for workday messages. To kick off each workday, volunteers gather and plans are discussed so that the crew is informed of what is to be accomplished. At midday, lunch is provided and served at the Como School by Como residents who are very involved and appreciate this effort in their community.
The following day, volunteers receive a message of workday accomplishment, including their photos of recognition and an important thank you. About 18 to 20 work days are planned per year. The engine crew volunteers work on the restoration of the steam locomotive almost every other Saturday in the Como Roundhouse. In 2024, Tom Lawson passed this volunteer responsibility on to Paul Blanchard, the current Como Volunteer Coordinator, who has kept this most important resource going so that Tom could concentrate on Como administration and financial income generation.
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The continued success of rail preservation in Colorado and the rest of the Rocky Mountain region is dependent on strong volunteer action. Both the DSP&P Historical Society and the South Park Rail Society are meeting the challenge of developing and mentoring a new generation of dedicated historic railroad fans and preservationists.
The Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society and the South Park Rail Society are both volunteer, private non-profit 501c3 organizations. Their web sites are dspphs.org and southparkrailsociety.org
This column was very much a collaborative effort, and I thank Tom Lawson for his input and help. Any and all errors are, however, mine alone.
- John Bush
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Colorado & Southern narrow-gauge gondola No. 4319 was loaded at Central City on June 6, 2018. It had been on open and unprotected display near a park pond above the town. At left is volunteer and Rocky Club member Tom Lawson, along with Jason Midyette and Tim Bain of the South Park Rail Society board of directors. The car was hauled to Como, where it resides today in better condition. In years before this photo, painting and lettering of the car had been done by John Bush and Fred Oster. The banner was to acknowledge the support that the Club gave to various Como projects. Image by Dave Schaaf.
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A bit of Rocky Mountain Railroad Club History
By Jim Ehernberger
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The final excursion that the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club operated over the rails of Colorado’s Great Western Railway took place on September 9, 1962. It was a joint excursion trip departing Denver Union Station behind Colorado & Southern engine 638, a 2-8-0, consisting of one baggage car with doors opened, and five coaches travelling 40 miles to Longmont. At Longmont, the train was interchanged with the Great Western line, where engine 90, a 2-10-0, proceeded 41 miles to Eaton. The train was turned on the wye track, and after lunch, we returned 25.8 miles to Loveland. At the GW yard, Colorado & Southern engine 638 was waiting to return our special train the 57 miles to Denver. Several photo stops were made along the way on both rail lines under relatively clear skies.
One week after our trip, both the C&S and GW were busy with their fall sugar beet campaign from the rich farmlands served by both railroads.
The fare for the trip was $7.00 for adults, and $4.00 for children. The Great Western received $670.00 in revenue for its portion of the trip.
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Many Club excursions, as far back as May of 1951, were handled by Great Western locomotive No. 90. Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1924, this engine was one of a kind in Colorado, serving the Great Western Railway during the fall harvest season. The locomotive (shown) at Loveland in 1957 was a 2-10-0 Decapod type, and served this railroad faithfully during the annual harvesting of sugar beets. It is now operating on the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. Photo from the James L. Ehernberger Collection.
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The Club’s last steam excursion on the Great Western Railway was behind engine No. 90, a 2-10-0. The only Decapod locomotive in Colorado is seen here at one of many photo run-bys located just east of Mead, Colorado. Mead is located eight miles from Longmont. The Great Western crew handled our excursion with great care and were pleased to show us their railroad. Forrest H. Bahm Photo / James L. Ehernberger Collection.
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Colorado & Southern locomotive No. 638 was at the Great Western yard in Loveland to handle our special train back to Denver. This was the last time the Club operated engine No. 638 to Loveland, and less than three months after this trip, the locomotive was retired for display at Trinidad, Colorado. Many Club excursions were operated using this locomotive on various lines out of Denver. This image was taken on September 9, 1962 by Forrest H. Bahm, a longtime Club member from Shelby, Nebraska. James L. Ehernberger Collection.
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Union Pacific No. 7868 east handled a passenger car special from California via the Moffat Tunnel Subdivision at Fraser, Colorado, on October 1, 2009. This rare move was bound for Denver under dramatic skies that afternoon. © 2009 by Chip
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Content contributions this month from Chip Sherman,
John Bush, Jim Ehernberger, and Dave Schaaf.
Editorial assistance from Paul Hammond and Maddie Schaaf.
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| Thanks to our generous Sponsors & Partners
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