On Saturday, May 27, a good crew consisting of Dwight Maxey, Tyler Seeley, Bryan Tong, and Paul Brown, did some quick work moving some of our equipment around, and giving Engine 102, The Patriot, a washing for her upcoming summer duties. The crew used Engine 104 to do most of the work switching the equipment, including pulling Engine 102 out of the shop. After washing The Patriot, the crew took a lunch break, and then cranked up 102 to check out the systems and operation. We used 102 to move the caboose consist back into the yard, and then tie everything down. We finished the day with a little more clean up work in the shop.

I have included a few photos of the work being done today. As our event season gets into full swing, we hope to see more volunteers come out to help!

– Paul

Photos by Paul Brown and Tyler Seeley

On Saturday, May 20, the Pueblo Railway Museum hosted Train Rides at the Depot near the Pueblo Union Depot. Volunteers Ron Roach and Jackie Anzavor manned the gift shop selling tickets, while Kendall and Lynette Crouch and John McDowell directed visitors to the train and answered questions. Then the train crew, Colin Mellin, Reid Adams, Dwight Maxey and Paul Brown gave everyone a ride in the locomotive cab or on one of our cabooses. With nearly 100 visitors, our volunteers stayed busy during the four hour event. It was great to have the large number of visitors and people who are interested in railroad history!

I am including a few pictures of the riders today.

– Paul

On Saturday, May 6, Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch and Paul Brown got dirty! The group worked to clean out dirt and expose the ties on our main running track, to see what kind of damage we have and how many ties will need replaced in the near future. After cleaning out about a 25 foot section of the track, we found three ties that will need replaced. One of those ties had completely rotted away!

We took a nice lunch break, and then headed out to a couple of abandoned tracks close to San Pedro street, and were able to move a little bit of dirt before the Bobcat tractor succumbed to some kind of fuel system problem. We had been fighting this all day but it got worse as the day went on.

– Paul

On Saturday, April 29, a good crew consisting of Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch and Paul Brown started with cleaning out the blown-in tumbleweeds from the collection area. While not very bad, there was enough to fill up the work truck twice, and burn up the morning completing he task.

We broke for lunch around noon, and then started back to work checking the locomotive crankcases for any accumulated coolant. We do this twice per year to see if there is any major water leakage, and to spot other possible problems. After this work was completed, we headed out to install posts that we can use to chain open the gates in our perimeter fence. This keeps the gates from moving in any wind, while we are moving the train or other vehicles through.

We tied up for the day after putting away our tools and cleaning up. I have included a few pictures of today’s activities.

– Paul

On Saturday April 22, Dwight Maxey and Paul Brown braved the cold temps and a bit of snow to work at the Museum. They worked on two projects that could be done indoors while staying warm. First we assembled the cords that will be the jumpers to carry the generator power between our cabooses we use for events. We assembled the plug ends on four cords, and then checked how it would hook up on the receptacles we previously installed on the cabooses.

After taking a quick lunch break, we finished the jumper assembles and then cleaned up and installed some hangers for our large cable we use to power the Kim Hot Start block heaters on our locomotives. This cable has been coiled on the floor for many years, and it was time to hang it up to help protect it. We finished a bit early and headed home.

I have included a few pictures to give you an idea of the work accomplished.

– Paul

On Saturday, April 15, Dwight Maxey and Paul Brown got things going at the Museum by starting up the Trackmobile and retrieving the C&W Caboose #3 “Bunny Hutch” from the display area and putting it back in the regular trainset. This was a laid back operation that took most of the morning.

We broke for lunch, and Colin Mellin joined us for some work in the afternoon. We checked dimensions of the unitized locomotive batteries that we have, and checked that they will fit in the battery boxes on Locomotive 103. We then installed the new windshield wiper blades onto Locomotives 104 and 102. A couple of other miscellaneous tasks were completed before wrapping up for the day.

I have included a few photos of the day’s work.

– Paul

On Saturday, April 8, the Pueblo Railway Museum kicked off its 2023 train ride season. We had a good turnout of riders to keep all of us busy. The train crew all gathered at 9am to start prepping for the day’s activities. With a quick check of our crossings, some grease on the curve, and a crew briefing, we left the D Street Shop right on time to make it to the Pueblo Union Depot for the start of our event. The car attendants and platform agent did a great job helping to load and unload passengers safely for each trip. We received a lot of positive feedback and comments from the riders. The train crew did a great job, making for another fun, safe day of running our trains.

Visitors to this event were treated to a special surprise. The Union Avenue Express, shown in one of the photos below, made a rare public appearance. Some of our museum volunteers recently spent some time giving this engine some much needed attention. They got it working again, much to the delight of our Easter event attendees!

Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make this event a success:

Traincrew: Justin Cesar, Colin Mellin, Reid Adams, Tyler Seeley, Dwight Maxey

Platform: Kendall Crouch

Tickets/gift shop: Ron Roach

Last but not least, John McDowell kept kids entertained in the Bunny Hutch!

Photos by Dwight Maxey and Ron Roach

On Saturday, April 1, Colin Mellin, Dwight Maxey and Paul Brown completed all the scheduled work we planned. Work started with jumping in the maintenance truck and heading out to clear accumulated stones and dirt from our two grade crossings. We checked on some track over by the power plant next. Then we headed over by Union Depot to check on the broken joint bar we had to replace back at Christmas time. We were able to drift the joint close enough together to get two more bolts in to finish that work. One of these weekends, we need to replace ties under that joint!

After lunch we fired up Engine 104 and switched the cabooses around to get things ready for next week’s Easter event. The C&W Caboose #3 is set up as the bunny hutch, and we placed it over by the collection where we load. The weekday crew will get things ready for the event.

After the main work ended, Paul did a little more work on our archeological dig in the shop yard. Sorry, but I only have a couple of pictures of the caboose move, so you will have to show up at the Museum to see the treasures we are uncovering!

– Paul