The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non profit railroad museum with over 100 locomotives, passenger cars, and cabooses dating as far back as the late 1800s. Such as an 1881 Rio Grande 346, an 1902 Rio Grande 491 and a 1890 Manitou and Pikes Peak cog railway no 1. Furthermore there is an authentically recreated telegraph office where visitors can decode or send messages over the wire.
Fun Facts
- The earliest train passengers had to bring their own food for the entire journey. They spent hours sitting upright on narrow seats in a hot and crowded car.
- Wedge plows clear up most of the snow drifts from the tracks but deeper snow requires a rotary snowplow. Since a rotary chops up the snow and throws it off the tracks, they are extremely expensive to operate.
Rotary
Above all, the Colorado Railroad Museum is home to one of the oldest and largest railroad clubs in the Rocky Mountain region. I’ve never seen such an enormous miniature train set-up. It’s huge and the best part is that for $0.25 you can activate it and watch the miniature train run it’s course through the elaborate layout. Members of the club, run the train for free on most Tuesdays from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
To resume, the Colorado Railroad museum is a great place to see and learn about trains. Notably how they influenced settlement in the mid west and helped create America as it is today.
Hours
Open Daily
| January – October | 9:00 am – 5:00 pm |
| November – December | 9:00 am – 4:00 pm |
| Easter | 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm |
| Thanksgiving | 9:00 am – 2:00 pm |
Closed Thanksgiving day, December 16, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years eve and New Years day.
Admission:
$10 Adults
Keep in mind that if temperatures exceed 95 degrees, staff may close cars that do not have proper ventilation. Also, if it rains or snows staff may close cars as well.
Plan to spend an hour and a half to two hours here.
Directions
Colorado Railroad Museum
17155 W 44th Ave,
Golden, CO 80403
From I-25, take I-70 West. Get off at Exit 265 for Co-58 W towards Golden/Central city. Take the McIntyre St exit and turn left on W 44th Ave. Destination will be on your right.
Accommodations
The closest accommodations are in Golden, Colorado. My link will search through all the online sites to find you the best price available. By purchasing your trip through my link, this site will earn a small commission on your purchase. Rest assured that it will not cost you anything extra! In Fact, the only difference is that this site will earn a commission instead of another booking site. Thank your sponsorship!
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