On Saturday, February 15, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Bruce Davis, Kendall Crouch, Chris Pollard, Colin Mellin, and Paul Brown started the day in sunshine, and cleaned up blown in leaves and debris, while moving some materials around at the front side of the shop. But soon, the clouds moved back in, dropping the temperature, so some folks headed indoors to work on the Gang Car. The engine on the car is needing some care and clean up, and the crew jumped right into that work. The oil pan was found to have an interesting conglomeration of glob in it that was cleaned out.

After lunch, we headed back outside to work on the beginning of clearing out weeds, so that we can find the ground and some supplies we keep stored!! Just as we were finishing up, the snow started falling again, so we called it a day.

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

– Paul

On Saturday, February 8, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Kendall Crouch, Chris Pollard, Bruce Davis, Chris Traficante, Dannis Hudson, Nick Walker and Paul Brown stayed busy working on track. Our first task was to replace a section of rail that had a piece of the head of the rail broken out. This piece of rail, a little over eight feet long, is special in that it allows a change in rail weight from 110 lb/yd to 90 lb/yd. The size of the rail actually changes from one end to the other, and we were lucky enough to have another section that matches the one that needed replaced. The crew unbolted the broken rail and bolted up the replacement. Overall a pretty simple repair, and an excellent way to teach some of the crew members about track repair.

After a lunch break, the crew headed back out to repair some damage that was done to the dirt crossings that we installed a few months back. Some contaminated material was deposited on the crossings and it blocked the flangeways. The crew dug out the offending material, and then fabricated end blocks from 6X6 timbers to box in the material. After finishing this work, the crew cleaned up all the tools used, and finished up before the cold wind started blowing.

I have included a few pictures of today’s action.

– Paul

On Saturday, February 1, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Chris Pollard, Colin Mellin, Gary Carter, Dannis Hudson, Nick Walker and Paul Brown enjoyed some nice conditions for a change to get the shop organized, and get some rail equipment switched around on the shop lead tracks. We started in the shop and moved some work tables and equipment back into place, and cleaned some debris from the floor. This work required the morning hours to complete, and the crew took a lunch break.

After lunch, the Trackmobile was started up and the crew proceeded to move some equipment on the shop leads back to their storage spots. We were also able to get the 2 speeders and the gang car moved and back into the shop. Our Trackmobile is a lightweight so it presents a challenge to those planning moves, because only one or two cars can be moved at a time. But it is always fun and relaxing to work with the old equipment we have, and to improve skills that don’t get used that often.

I have included a few pictures of today’s work.

– Paul

Join us as a new Museum Member, or renew your existing membership, and get two free train rides! All new and renewing members will receive a membership card in the mail. Bring the card to any of our train ride events in 2025, and receive two free train rides!

Check out our Events Page for our 2025 train ride schedule, and follow our blog for the latest updates on what’s happening at the Museum! To follow our blog, visit our website, enter your email address on the bottom of any web page and click the “follow” button.

You can become an Associate Member of the Museum for just $40 a year! You can apply for membership and pay your annual membership dues online. Memberships are open to anyone 18 years or older who is interested in helping the Museum fulfill its Mission to “Operate, Preserve and Display Railroad Equipment and History”.

To learn more about Pueblo Railway Museum memberships, click here to go to our membership page!

On Saturday, January 25, volunteers Dwight Maxey, John McDowell, Chris Pollard, Ben Pollard, Gary Carter, Dannis Hudson, Henry Falko, Nick Walker and Paul Brown braved very cold temperatures – and more than the predicted “trace” of snow – to do the work required to return the truck back under our Haunted Railcar. Using the pneumatic jacks we have, of course requires compressed air, and as usual, our compressor was very cold, requiring a jump start, and some finessing to get started. Once the compressor warmed up, it was a simple matter to raise the jacks, and roll the truck under the car.

While you would think that rail cars having very large parts wouldn’t need to be adjusted by fractions of an inch to be assembled, our job required just that! For some reason, the bolster was just a bit off center, and required some frustrating work to finally get lined up. And remember, it was very cold and frustration makes it even colder! Persistence paid off in the end though, and we were able to finish the reassembly work and put the tools away before running to the break room to thaw out!!

Many thanks to our volunteers today for sticking with it and completing the job.

I have included a few pictures here to hopefully give you an idea of the work done.

– Paul

Our 2025 train ride schedule has been posted on our Events Page. 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 our passenger loading area. Trains depart every 20 minutes, so there will be multiple opportunities during each event to ride the train.

There is no admission fee to attend the events. The charge is only for the train ride.

To receive updates about our upcoming events, follow our blog. Enter your email address on the bottom of this web page and click the “follow” button.

On Saturday, January 11, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch, Chris Pollard, Bruce Davis, Reid Adams, Petar Sredojevic, Shirley Sredojevic and Paul Brown started the day by cleaning up the inside of the D Street Shop getting ready for some guests next weekend, and then headed over to the Heritage Center Museum to work on an inventory of display items that the Pueblo Railway Foundation has at that location.

The inventory work took a bit to get going as we decided what would be the most effective way to do the work, but once that was figured out, the actual work took less time than expected. The PRF has had a very nice display at the Heritage Center and our crew is looking forward to slightly expanding the display, and fine tuning some of the signal lights displayed there.

If you are interested in viewing our display at the Heritage Center Museum, note that they are closed until February 5 as they work through their inventory process.

I have attached some pictures to show the work done today.

– Paul

Photos by Paul Brown and Chris Pollard

On Saturday, January 4, 2025, enthusiastic volunteers Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch, Chris Pollard, Ben Pollard, Justin Cesar, Bryan Tong, Reid Adams, Chris Traficante, Dannis Hudson, Nick Walker, John McDowell, Gary Carter and Paul Brown overcame very cold temperatures and uncooperative equipment to complete a large variety of tasks. The day started by moving three “speeders” out of the shop, and then switching some railcars around on our shop track to get one of our passenger cars in place to be jacked up. Once the passenger car was in place, it was then a study of excellent team work to jack the car up with a pair of 50 ton jacks to remove one of the trucks. The removed truck was placed inside the shop for an upcoming seminar in a couple of weeks.

Then, when we were done with all that work, and it was thought everyone was tired of the cold, the volunteers decided to jump into another project, and removed the dirt crossings across the shop lead tracks! It was thought that the heavy labor of this work would warm everyone after being cold all day. I think it worked! Overall a very good day to start the New Year 2025!

I am including some pictures of today’s work.

– Paul

On Saturday, December 28, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Bruce Davis, Kendall Crouch, Chris Pollard, Ben Pollard, Polly Cotton and Paul Brown spent the morning removing Christmas decorations and cleaning up our cabooses and Engine 104. We neatly stored the decorations in storage containers, and put them away for safe keeping until next year’s festivities. That work took us up to lunch and taking about an hour break.

After lunch, we did some work to get things ready for a project coming in January, found a broken window frame in the Mo-Pac Caboose, we had a bit of time to do some discovery on our GE 25 Ton locomotive, and did some other work to the doors on the Rohr high speed test vehicle. We even had time to host a visitor to the Museum who liked the tour so much, they gave us a nice donation!

As we head into 2025, watch here for more exciting work to be done at the Museum where the fun never ends! I have included a few pictures of today’s activities.

– Paul