Colorado Railroad Museum - Golden, CO - a piece of transportation history

A not for profit museum dedicated to the railroad the Colorado Railroad Museum is on fifteen acres near where the Clear Creek runs between the South and North of the Table Mountains. The museum opened during 1959 in order to keep records of the railroad era in Colorado. The narrow gauge railroads designed specifically for the mountains special navigation needs were of particular interest to the museum.

The biggest collection of three feet narrow gauge stock found in America's North is at the Colorado Railroad Museum. There are train rides given on the trains during day that special events are held at the facility in addition to three Geese motorcars that are at the museum on Saturdays. The displays at the Colorado Railroad Museum are all outside as far as the equipment is concerned.

The track displays have a three way stub switch, switch stands that are a century old, dual gauge switches and tracks. There are more than one hundred historic stand and narrow gauge cars and locomotives on the tracks found at the museum. Trains use the third of a mile three feet oval gauge track during operating days. The building that houses the Colorado Railroad Museum is built to look like a depot from the 1880's and give visitors the full experience of the historical start to the railroad in the mountains of Colorado.

The museum contains thousands of historical documents from the railroads, artifacts and rare photographs. The railroad history documents have been used by the state of Colorado for more than one hundred and twenty-five years. Original photographs taken by Louis Charles McClure and William Henry Jackson are in the collection. Paintings from Ted Rose, Howard Fogg, and Otto Kuhler in addition to a number of artists are in the collection at the Colorado Railroad Museum.

There is a replica of a telegrapher's office designed with a bay window in the museum as well as an exhibition hall on the lower level which has traveling and seasonal displays detailing the history of the railroad. The museum has over ten thousand books on the railroad held by Robert W. Richardson Library at the facility.

During July of 2000 the dedication of the Cornelius W. Hauck restoration facility at the Colorado Railroad Museum in order to give visitors the opportunity to see restoration work in a safe environment. In the late nineteenth century there was a small point of division that the design of the building was chosen to reflect.

The Colorado Railroad Museum also has a roundhouse where cars and locomotives are displayed on radial tracks and a ninety foot turntable. There is a garden exhibit in the museum developed by the Denver Garden Railway Society. The model of the railroad is used on Saturday morning and on event days the railway itself is active.

Anyone with an interest in the railroad and its history should make it a point to visit the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado to expand their knowledge. The museum should be contacted directly to confirm hours of operations, exhibits and rates of admission.