In celebration of Heart and Soul of Golden month, this is the second in a series of articles describing the histories of Golden Cultural Alliance members.
The Rocky Mountain Railroad Club was formed in the late 1930s. As the narrow gauge mountain railways were closing down, this group made a point of riding them one last time. They even bought some of the rolling stock from the dying railroads.
They did the same thing when the interurban railways ended service in 1950. They were there for the final trips, and they bought one of the cars.
The club hoped to found a railroad museum, so the history of Colorado’s railroads would be preserved and interpreted.
During the 1950s and '60s, several clubs in Golden were working to fix up the area on the north side of Clear Creek (now Lions Park). The Kiwanis Club built the camp ground. The Optimists built a playground. The Lions installed baseball diamonds, The DAR installed picnic tables. The City built a swimming pool.
This seemed like the ideal time and place to build a railroad museum. It’s common to see locomotives or railroad cars in city parks. The Rocky Mountain Railroad Club had several prime specimens that they offered to contribute to Golden’s new park: “an engine, a railroad car, a caboose, and a street car” with more to follow (Colorado Transcript – October 2, 1952). The Club brought the idea to City Council, and council was very supportive.
Meanwhile, in Alamosa Colorado, Bob Richardson had a similar goal. He too was acquiring retired railroad equipment and was building a museum. In 1958 he decided to relocate to Golden. He purchased property on 44th Street and moved his rolling stock and priceless railroad artifacts from Alamosa to Golden.
This was a welcome event for the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club. They abandoned thoughts of trying to build their own museum and instead helped Richardson with his. The members helped lay track and set to work refurbishing the old cars and engines. Over time, they donated several pieces of railroad equipment to the museum. Last year, the Colorado Railroad Museum celebrated 65 years in Golden.
