Colorado Railroad Museum

The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum. The museum is located on 15 acres (6.1 ha) at a point where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden, Colorado.

Colorado museum
Established1959
Location17155 W 44th Ave
Golden, Colorado 80403
Typerailroad museum
DirectorPaul Hammond
Public transit accessnone
Websitecoloradorailroadmuseum.org

The museum was established in 1959 to preserve a record of Colorado's flamboyant railroad era, particularly the state's pioneering narrow-gauge mountain railroads.

Facilities
Main museum building
The Denver HO Model Railroad Club is located in the basement of the Colorado Railroad Museum.

The museum building is a replica of an 1880s-style railroad depot. Exhibits feature original photographs by pioneer photographers such as William Henry Jackson and Louis Charles McClure, as well as paintings by Howard L Fogg, Otto Kuhler, Ted Rose and other artists. Locomotives and railroad cars modeled in the one inch scale by Herb Votaw are also displayed. A bay window contains a reconstructed depot telegrapher's office, complete with a working telegraph sounder.

The lower level of the museum building contains an exhibition hall which features seasonal and traveling displays on railroading history. The lower level also contains the Denver HO Model Railroad Club's "Denver and Western" operating HO and HOn3 scale model train layout that represent Colorado's rail history in miniature.

The Robert W. Richardson Library houses over 10,000 rare historic photographs, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway No. 683 was built in 1890 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and spent much of his time, pulling coal trains in the eastern United States it was donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum on July 9, 1982.

Collection
Steam locomotive D&RGW #683 at a mock-up train station.
Steam locomotive D&RGW #346 on the turntable.
Steam locomotive DL&G #191, the oldest steam locomotive in Colorado Railroad Museum.
Rio Grande Southern Railroad Galloping Goose No. 2.

The museum has a large collection of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge rolling stock and provides narrow-gauge train rides on special event days known as "Steam Up days".

The museum also has ex-Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad No. 683, a coal burning 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1890, builders number 11207. It is the only surviving 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge steam locomotive from the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.

All of the railroad equipment is displayed outdoors. Display tracks are complete with a rare three-way stub switch, dual gauge track and switches, and century-old switch stands. These tracks hold over 100 historic narrow and standard gauge locomotives and cars. The 1⁄3 mile (0.54 km) oval of 3 ft (914 mm) gauge track is used by trains on operating days.

The museum's roster contains the following notable pieces of rolling stock:[1]

NameYear builtDescription
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad No. 56291940Chicago, Burlington & Quincy or Burlington Route 5629 is a 4-8-4 "Northern" type O-5B class steam locomotive built by the railroad in their West Burlington, Iowa shops in 1940. Retired in 1956 in Lincoln, Nebraska, the locomotive came to the Colorado Railroad Museum in 1963. It is one of four surviving Burlington Route "Northerns".
Rio Grande 4911902Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad No. 491 is a 2-8-2 "Mikado" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. It was placed on display at the Colorado Railroad Museum in 2000. It was then restored to operating condition in August 2014 and is currently the largest operating narrow gauge engine in the Western hemisphere. No. 491 is still currently operational at the museum as of 2020.
Rio Grande 346July 1881Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad No. 346 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in July 1881. Also, 346 has its very own class sister the locomotive number 318. No. 346 is still currently operational at the museum as of 2020.
Rio Grande 3181881
Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway no 11890
Rio Grande Southern 201899Rio Grande Southern No. 20 is a 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works of Schenectady, New York in 1899. This locomotive has recently been restored to operating condition as of 2020. No. 20 made its first run under its own power for the first time on July 2, 2020 and made its public debut at the Colorado Railroad Museum on August 1, 2020.
Colorado and Southern 1911880

Diesel locomotives
  • Denver & Rio Grande Western F7A 5771 & F7B 5762
  • Denver & Rio Grande Western SD40T-2 5401. Donated to the museum in 2018.

Passenger cars
  • Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Observation Car Navajo
  • Chicago Burlington & Quincy Business Car No. 96
  • Colorado Midland Observation Car No. 111
  • Denver & Rio Grande Western Coach No. 284
  • Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway Post Office Car No. 60
  • Union Pacific Coach No. 5442
  • Union Pacific Diner No. 4801

Special equipment

See also

References
  1. Museum Guide. Golden, Colorado: Colorado Railroad Museum. c. 2015.

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