When we got to the museum the conductor explained how it is organized. Inside the station there is a telegraph office, a basement with a very large model train layout and rooms upstairs with exhibits of railroad equipment, such as a huge box with buttons and switches for the tracks. Outside there are many different kinds of trains.

The building on the left is a library where you can get tons of really great books about trains.

The first train we saw was standing at the station. It is the Denver &
Rio Grande Western 683. This type of locomotive was built from 1888-92. It ran on standard gauge tracks. Two kinds of tracks were used in Colorado: narrow gauge and standard gauge.

Click on tracks to learn more about them.

This is the view from the cab of locomotive 683.

This switch was used to move the track to direct a train onto a siding.

This is called a track speeder. It is used behind a steam engine to check the tracks to see if they need to be repaired.

Big Boys by Michael J, Grade 3

This is the closest train to a Big Boy that the museum owns.

The Big Boy is the world's largest conventional steam engine. In a conventional steam engine the steam is used only once in a high pressure cylinder before the steam is exhausted through the stack. Twenty-five Big Boys were built between 1941 and 1944. The Union Pacific operated Big Boys on a route from Omaha, Nebraska through Wyoming to Ogden, Utah. The locomotive and the tender weighed 1,250,000 pounds which is 625 tons. They were 132 feet long. They could reach a speed of 80 miles per hour.

The Big Boy had a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement with 2 cylinders on each side so that it could pull really long trains. It was articulated (sort of hinged in the middle) so it could make turns more easily. The Big Boy could pull a train that was approximately 5.5 miles long but they never had to pull one that long. The wheels are not like car wheels. They are metal and they are not attached to a drive shaft.

The tender carried lots of coal and water. The Big Boy fed itself coal. It had a stoker in the bottom of the tender with a drill in it that transported the coal to the firebox. The reason why the Big Boy carried a lot of water was so it could boil and make the wheels turn. A fireman worked on the Big Boy to make sure the boiler was producing enough steam to power the locomotive. In the cab there was a little switch which moved a shield that directed the smoke away from the cab.

Big Boys were really fun to work with. If you wanted to be an engineer on a Big Boy you would have to go to a training school.

The Galloping Goose was used for carrying mail and passengers in western Colorado. It is an automobile mounted on train wheels with a boxcar in back. It's name comes from the bouncing motion it makes when it is moving.

Shays by Bob J., Grade 3

This engine at the museum is very similar to a shay.

Shays are the original geared locomotives. They are a lot like cars because they have a drive shaft down the right side of the engine. Because of these gears Shays could pull heavy loads up steep grades, but they were very slow and seldom went more than 25 mph. Shays were made to pull logs up the mountains to the saw mills.

The tender is not coupled to the engine. It is securely attached and is unable to detach. It weighs 37 tons. Shays have one whistle and a safety valve. Today Shays are usually used for fun trips for tourists in places such as Georgetown.

Steam trains stopped next to the water tower to get water. A pipe was lowered down into a hole at the top of the tender.

The metal frame on the front of the locomotive is called the cow catcher.

To learn about the exciting history of this caboose click on caboose.

This mail car is a mobile post office. The workers sorted the mail as the train went from town to town. The boxes at the back of the car were labeled with the names of the towns where the train stopped.

After we toured the museum we ate lunch near this passenger coach. Then we shopped in the gift store.

The Colorado Railroad Museum is a very interesting place. Visit their website and learn more.