On Saturday, December 30, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Chris Pollard, Polly Cotton, Dannis Hudson and Paul Brown worked to remove the Christmas decorations from our train set. Our new methods for attaching the lights made quick work of the removal. After a quick lunch break, we did a battery check on Engine 104. We needed to find out if – after a week of sitting – if any of our batteries were holding a charge. After isolating and attempting to roll the engine over with both on board batteries, and the set on the ground we have been jumping with, it was determined that our batteries are no longer up to the task. Watch for future reports to find out what happens next!

The crew finished up the day reducing the size of the pallet we store our generator on, and installing a smooth deck on the pallet to ease the work needed to get it under the caboose for use. I was only able to get one picture today of the crew as they finished work.

– Paul

On Sunday, December 24th, the Museum ran it’s annual Christmas Eve Pueblo Express, which is also the last event for the year. We may have set a record for attendance with this one as we had close to 200 total visitors. Thanks to volunteers Ron Roach, Dave Dandurand, Diana Garrison, Teia Brown, Demitris Brown, Michael Brown, Jackie Anzlovar, Dwight Maxey, Polly Cotton, Dannis Hudson and Paul Brown, our visitors were all seen having a good time and enjoying the Christmas lights with snow flurries falling! Our train crew was kept hopping with this many visitors, and some radio issues, which we solved the old fashion way with lantern signals. I’m sure the crew in the diner never got to catch their breath as folks streamed in to get some hot chocolate! All in all, it was a fun evening and the culmination of a very good year at the Pueblo Railway Museum.

I have included a few pictures of last nights event, enjoy and Merry Christmas!!

– Paul

On Friday and Saturday, December 15 and 16, the Museum presented their second weekend of our annual Christmas Train Rides on the Pueblo Express. We had a great turn out of guests, with our two-night total nearing 500 people who came out to enjoy the train ride, check out the decorations, have a hot chocolate, and perhaps even visit with Santa! The trains never stopped rolling as the guests just kept coming!

Without the help of the following volunteers, none of this could have happened. Volunteers Ron Roach, John McDowell, Diana Garrison, Teia Brown, Demitris Brown, Micheal Brown, Jackie Anzlovar, Justin Cesar, Colin Mellin, Reid Adams, Polly Cotton, Dannis Hudson, Chris Fox, Bruce Davis and Paul Brown made sure our guests had an enjoyable time and a fun train ride.

We had many first-time guests, and a number of folks who have made our Pueblo Express Christmas train rides an annual tradition. We really appreciate our guests, and hope that we can attract them back for another ride in 2024. Follow our blog to get updates on our events next year!

I have included a few pictures of Saturday night’s event. That’s when I had more time on the ground to actually take some pictures! Enjoy, as we prepare for our final train ride event on Christmas Eve.

– Paul

On Saturday, December 9, the Museum had a successful first event of this Christmas season with many volunteers helping. Volunteers Ron Roach, John McDowell, Anzlovar Jackie, Maureen King, Tea Brown, Demitris Brown, Michael Brown, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch, Bruce Davis, Justin Cesar, Polly Cotton, Dannis Hudson, Reid Adams and Paul Brown worked hard in the cold temps to greet and entertain well over 150 guests. Most of those guests arrived during the first 2 hours of the event so the train was rolling pretty steady! The Pueblo area received a good covering of snow the evening before, and we had one of the most snow covered events we’ve ever had. The Christmas spirit was running high at this event, as the visitors were all smiling and excited to check out the decorations and take a short train ride.

I have included a few pictures that I was able to capture while being on the move!

– Paul

The Pueblo Railway Museum is proud to have partnered with the Pueblo Downtown Association to operate their Pueblo Downtown Express Christmas train in this year’s Parade of Lights on November 25. Check out the photos below from our museum tour guide, Ron Roach, as Ron and museum volunteer John McDowell were working to get the train ready. To see a short video of the train in the parade, courtesy of our good friend and local businessman Gerry Montgomery, click here.

We hope to see you in December for our Pueblo Express Christmas train ride events, where you can ride our full-size train! See our Event Page for dates and times.

Follow our blog to get the latest updates on our events for Christmas, and for next year. Enter your email address on the bottom of this webpage, and click the “follow” button.

On Saturday, December 2, a group of volunteers once again braved less than ideal weather to get decorations done on our train set. Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Bruce Davis, Kendall Crouch, Dannis Hudson, Polly Cotton and Paul Brown were able to finish installing Christmas lights – provided by Reid Adams – on the locomotive and the rear of the Rio Grande caboose. The interiors of the cabooses also got a few more lights, and some decorations were added. We should be ready now for our event trains coming up on the next three weekends. Now, we keep our fingers crossed that our locomotive starts and we have nice conditions!

I have included a few photos to give you a view of the work done today. Hope to see you on our Christmas train rides!

– Paul

The Pueblo Railway Museum is celebrating the holidays with our Pueblo Express Christmas trains on the following dates:

• Saturday, December 9
• Friday, December 15
• Saturday, December 16
• Sunday, December 24

Train rides will be available from 4PM to 8PM on each of the above dates behind the Pueblo Union Depot. Train ride tickets are $15 for a ride in the engine, and $10 for a ride in one of the cabooses. Children under 3 ride the train free! Cash or check only, please. Train ride tickets can only be purchased during the events. Purchase your tickets at our Gift Shop, a converted caboose behind the Depot, near where the trains depart. Each train ride is approximately 20 minutes, so there will be multiple opportunities during the event to ride the train.

Our Christmas-themed model trains will once again be open for viewing, free of charge. There is no admission fee to attend the event itself. The charge is only for the train ride.

On Saturday, November 25, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Kendall Crouch, Bruce Davis and Paul Brown braved frigid temperatures and a bit of snowfall to continue installing Christmas lights on our trainset. The group was able to get the lights on the C&W caboose and one string on Engine 104. They also installed interior lighting in the Rio Grande caboose. The volunteers worked a shorter than normal day due to the cold temperature, with most of the day only being in the 20’s. We are one step closer to being ready for the Christmas train rides coming in a couple of weeks!

There are only three photos of the work today due to the camera battery dying in the cold!

– Paul

Don’t miss the Pueblo Parade of Lights on November 25, starting at 5:30 PM! The Pueblo Railway Museum is helping Santa ride in the parade on the Pueblo Downtown Express! For information on parking and the parade route, click here. Read the story below about how the Pueblo Downtown Association and the Pueblo Railway Museum are working together to bring this Christmas Train to the good citizens of Pueblo!

A few months ago, a gentleman named Mike came to visit us at the Pueblo Railway Museum’s D Street Shop, and asked if we knew the whereabouts of the so-called “Everett White” train. Mike Carlisle is with the Pueblo Downtown Association. I told Mike I knew where it was kept, and where Kathy White lived. Mike went to Kathy’s house east of Pueblo. The Association purchased the locomotive, the tender, and all the related train cars, and has named the train the “Pueblo Downtown Express”. An agreement has been made with the Pueblo Railway Foundation that we would store and operate the train and keep it running.

The locomotive is built on a 1942 airport tug and airport luggage cars. Our Museum volunteers have gone into this not being sure of what we were getting ourselves into! The locomotive and tender had sat for 12 years in a trailer without being moved or started. The last time any part of the train was out on display was at our Museum, for our “2912 days” in May of 2012.

When we went to get the locomotive and tender earlier this year, we found that Everett had taken mud and a paint brush and had put mud all over it for that Hillbilly Train display back in 2012. John washed the train twice with a power washer to get the mud off. We then found out that a lot of the paint had come off, so we got paint and painted the whole thing with black and silver. It looks great! The next big problem was to try to get that cranky engine running. That was a job and a half! We have had to change wiring, change oil, put in a new fuel pump, clean the fuel lines and the fuel tank, replace the back tires, and most of all learn to drive it! It was a three-month job, but we did it. Museum volunteer John McDowell and I have both worked very hard on this. After the repairs were done, it was time to roll it out for a test run. It ran like it should. It was then taken out behind the Union Depot for the Museum’s 4th of July train ride event, and then again in August, September, and Halloween with no problems. For Halloween, we took the Hillbilly Train and got it all made up as a haunted train that looked spooky!

Now it’s time for its next big project: Christmas. On Saturday, November 25, I will be driving this train in the Parade of Lights – the first time this train has been in the parade for twelve years. We’re working hard to get our train ready so that Santa and Mrs. Claus can ride it!

Ron Roach,
Pueblo Railway Museum Tour Guide

On Saturday, November 18, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Bruce Davis, Colin Mellin, Reid Adams, Dannis Hudson, Polly Cotton and Paul Brown gathered to work on Christmas lighting and decorations in preparation for our December events. Of course each work day at the Museum has to start with a little weed clean up. Dwight, Bruce and Paul spent about an hour picking up tumbleweeds that had blown in during the week. Colin and Reid joined in shortly after to start installing the Christmas lights that Reid had purchased. We are freshening up our caboose decorations this year with a different design and all LED lights to allow more lights to be installed.

After a quick lunch, Dannis and Polly joined the group and jumped in to help with the light install and interior decorations. We also planned to move the Haunted Railcar back to the shop yard, so Dwight and Paul got Engine 104 started and we did a bit of equipment switching. Bruce and Polly actually continued decorating while we were switching equipment. Of course they were doing the caboose interiors at that point! We tied up around 4:30, and that is just about when it starts to get dark these days.

We still have some more decorating to do, and we will continue that next weekend, so if you need to burn off some of the Thanksgiving dinner, consider joining us for the fun!

I have included some photos of today’s activities.

– Paul