Colorado Railroad Museum, Railway museum in Golden, US
The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit museum on 19.5 acres where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden. Its main building replicates an 1880s railroad depot, and more than 100 narrow- and standard-gauge locomotives and cars are displayed outdoors on tracks with a rare three-way stub switch and century-old switch stands. Among the rolling stock is Denver and Rio Grande Western No. 683, a coal-burning 2-8-0 Consolidation built by Baldwin in 1890.
The museum was founded in 1959 to preserve equipment from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, which operated mountain routes across Colorado. That railroad connected mining towns and helped establish settlements in the high country during the 1800s.
The museum tells the story of how railroads shaped life in the Colorado mountains and helped build communities in remote areas. Walking through the grounds, you see how trains were central to daily life and economic growth here.
All railroad equipment is displayed outdoors along gravel and display tracks, so sturdy shoes help on uneven ground. Narrow-gauge rides run on a one-third-mile oval of 3 ft track only on special event days called Steam Up days. The Denver HO Model Railroad Club layout in the museum building can be viewed on the first Thursday of each month.
The museum preserves the restored Galloping Goose, an unusual hybrid vehicle that combined a car body with railroad equipment and wheels. This odd contraption was actually a practical solution for transporting people and goods on remote mountain lines.
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