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 buildingThe 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, along with other reference materials such as timetables, maps, employee records and engineering documents about Colorado railroads.
Collection
Steam locomotive D&RGW #683 at a mock-up train station.Steam locomotive D&RGW #346 (originally numbered D&RG #406)on the turntable, built in 1881, and restored to its 20th-century appearance (Compare with photo below).This early photo of a sister engine shows how D&RGW #346 (originally D&RG 406) appeared in the 1800s, with a diamond stack, decorative trim on the sand dome, box headlight and wooden pilot.D&RG 406 (later D&RG 346) west of Chama, New Mexico, ca. 1910. (Colorado RR Museum collection)D&RG 406 (later D&RG 346) at Marshall Pass, Colorado in the summer of 1881, when the engine was new.Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Class 70 (C-19) Engines (numbers 400-411) as they were configured in the 1800s. D&RG 346 was originally D&RG 406 (and has been restored to include its 20th-century engineering modifications).Denver, Leadville & Gunnison RR 191 (which later became Thunder Lake Lumber Co. 7) near the end of its service life in the 20th century (before restoration).Denver, Leadville & Gunnison RR 191, after restoration. The engine is the oldest steam engine in Colorado. It's restoration included several of its 1800s engineering components such as a diamond stack, box headlight, and wooden pilot (cowcatcher).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".
All of the railroad equipment is displayed outdoors. Display tracks are complete with a rare three-waystub 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]
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad No. 491 is a 2-8-2 "Mikado" type narrow-gaugesteam locomotive built by the D&RGW themselves at their Burnham Railroad shops. 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[citation needed]. No. 491 is still currently operational at the museum as of 2022.
Denver Leadville & Gunnison No. 191 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gaugesteam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. No. 191 was built as Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad No. 51, renumbered No. 191 with the DSP&P's subsequent reorganization into the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railroad, renumbered again to No. 31 on the Colorado and Southern Railway, and was later sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company, and again to A. A. Bigelow Lumber Co. of Washburn, Wisconsin, where it was purchased in 1904 by the Robbins Railroad Company, operating as Thunder Lake Lumber Company No. 7.[3] No. 191 was purchased by the Colorado Railroad Museum in 1973 and returned to its home state, later receiving a cosmetic restoration for public display. Currently lettered for the Denver Leadville & Gunnison Railroad, No. 191 is the oldest locomotive in the state of Colorado.
Denver & Rio Grande Western No. 683
1890
Display
Denver and Rio Grande Western No. 683 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type standard gauge steam Locomotive. No. 683 entered service as the Rio Grande completed its very first standard gauge line between Denver and Salt Lake City. It was retired in 1955 and is the last surviving standard gauge locomotive from the Denver and Rio Grande Western.[4]
Diesel locomotives
Denver & Rio Grande Western Davenport 0-4-0 #50
Denver & Rio Grande Western EMD F9A #5771 & F9B #5762
Denver & Rio Grande Western EMD GP30 #3011
Denver & Rio Grande Western EMD 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
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