Elizabeth and I registered last year for the this conference. On January 14th, we departed Columbia and Elizabeth dove us around Kansas City to Interstate 35 and the rest area, where we switched drivers and I drove to Sedgwick, where we switched drivers again. She drove us to Partridge before I resumed the journey to Dodge City and we had dinner at International House of Pancakes before checking into the Best Western Hotel, where we called it an early night.
1/15/2025 We returned to IHOP for breakfast then continued our passage to Pueblo. Along US 150 for several miles, we saw flocks of birds which turned out to be snow geese, flying in formation south. I drove us to Lamar and Elizabeth took over the rest of the way to Pueblo.
BNSF 4597 West east of Pueblo.
BNSF BC44-9W 4597, built by General Electric in 1999.
BNSF ES44C4 8275, built by General Electric in 2014.
BNSF 4090 West near Pueblo. Since we had plenty of time, we decided to stop at the railway museum.
Pueblo Railway MuseumThe Pueblo Railway Foundation was formed in 2003 to continue and expand the collection and activities of the Pueblo Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society. The Pueblo Railway Museum is a program of the PRF. The mission of the Foundation is to operate, preserve and display railroad equipment and history. By displaying our historic artifacts to the public, our goal is to promote interest in railroading, and the preservation and study of its history, for the education and satisfaction of all.
We make this history come alive by operating this rail equipment during public events behind the Pueblo Union Depot, where our visitors can come and ride our trains. In addition, the PRF works with local schools to provide special tours as a class activity, and with the Public Library on summer educational activities. The PRF is an all-volunteer organization, with no paid staff. Administrative and fundraising expenses are minimized in favor of our policy to concentrate on our mission of preserving and interpreting railroad history, and sharing it with others.
Pueblo, in southeastern Colorado, has been a major rail and steel center since the late 1800's. Rail, and other steel products manufactured in Pueblo, helped build the railroads which settled the west. The expansion of the railroads contributed to the growth of Pueblo into the largest industrial center west of the Mississippi from 1880 to about 1940. To help the war effort during World War II, new heavy industries, including some new steel mills, began to open in California and other western states. Today, all rail manufactured in the western U.S. originates in Pueblo, just as it did in 1881.
For most of Pueblo's history, the main industry was the steel mill at Colorado Fuel & Iron, founded in 1892, now known as Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. The Colorado & Wyoming Railway was formed in 1899 as a subsidiary of CF&I. This railroad transported iron ore from southeastern Wyoming, and coal from the southern Colorado mountains to the Pueblo steel mills until the 1980's. Today, the C&W still maintains a small operation on five miles of track within the steel mill itself. The Pueblo Railway Foundation is proud to maintain the only collection of C&W locomotives and cars in operating condition.
Our Visit
Museum scenes.
Department of Transportation U30C 001 built by General Electric in 1971. It was used as a power source for the Department of Transportation's subway car test tracks in Pueblo before a connection from the commercial electric power grid could be established.
Santa Fe 4-8-4 2912, built by Baldwin in 1929. This was one of the last Santa Fe 4-8-4s shopped at the company's Albuquerque Shops before they were closed in March 1954. The locomotive hauled the last Santa Fe steam freight into Clovis, New Mexico from Slaton, New Mexico on the morning of August 4, 1954.
Burlington Northern kitchen car 951864, converted from a 50 foot box car.
VIA coach 180, ex. Amtrak 6070, exx. Amtrak 5282, exxx. Penn Central 4060, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 4060, built by Budd in 1946.
Burlington Northern kitchen car 951868 built as a box car in 1956 and converted to maintenance-of-way use 1985.
Denver and Rio Grande Western extended vision caboose 01516, built by International Car in 1976.
VIA Rail buffet-lounge-observation car 1099 "Bedford", nee Canadian National 1099, built by Budd in 1954.
Seaboard Air Line sleeper "Fort Lauderdale", nee Seaboard Air Line 61, built by Pullman-Standard in 1959. Its current name is "San Jacinto", PPCX 800017.
Amtrak dining car 8091, ex. Seaboard Coast Line 5961, nee Atlantic Coast Line "Naples", built by Pullman-Standard in 1957 and acquired from the Indiana Transportation Museum.
TSSX Recorder Car G-20, nee United States Army hospital car 89406, built by American Car and Foundry in 1945.
Atlantic Coast Line 54 seat coach 218, ex. Denver Railcar 5410 80034, exx. Amtrak 5410, exxxx. Seaboard Coast Line 5410, nee Atlantic Coast Line 218, built by Budd Company in 1946.
American Steel Foundries modified dorm-lunch counter-lounge 1965, ex. Chicago and Eastern Illinois 601, exx. Chicago and Eastern Illinois 302, nee Chicago and Eastern Illinois 90, builder and year unknown.
Colorado and Wyoming caboose 103, built by the Colorado and Wyoming in 1953, from an ore car and converted to Loco Simulator, and numbered 100.
BNSF refrigerator car 935023, ex. Santa Fe maintenance-of-way 190456, nee Santa Fe 40 foot refrigerator car 8861, builder unknown and constructed in 1923.
Burlington Northern/Western Fruit Express refrigerator car, details unknown.
Great Northern express box car 2649, built by railway in 1952.
Colorado and Wyoming 40 foot box car 93 built for an unknown original owner (possibly Rio Grande). It was later rebuilt in the late 1960's with Transco-ribbed side panels. The car would find its way onto the Colorado & Wyoming roster, where it was used in maintenance-of-way service.
Denver and Rio Grande freight house, year of construction unknown.
We checked into the Courtyard Pueblo Downtown then went to Cracker Barrel for an early dinner before returning to the hotel, picking up our registration packets and called it an early night.
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