GOLDEN, CO — April 18, 2025 – Over the next several months, the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club (RMRRC), a pioneering force in Colorado rail preservation for the past 87 years, will join forces with the Colorado Railroad Museum (CRRM), located in Golden. This significant step ensures the continuation of the Club’s legacy of rail preservation, historic excursions, and educational outreach, while transitioning its stewardship goals to the Museum for future action.

“This merger will formally end the work of the Rocky Club, but our goal is to nurture the continuation of its spirit,” said Colorado Railroad Museum Executive Director Paul Hammond. “We intend to continue this Colorado railroading institution’s extraordinary work and celebrate its legacy well into the future. The Club’s invaluable contributions toward preserving Colorado’s rail history will endure through the Museum’s ongoing preservation, publication, live rail excursion and public engagement efforts, ensuring that future generations can continue to learn from and appreciate the rich rail heritage of the Rocky Mountain region.”

Transition
The transition will include the transfer of RMRRC’s assets, extensive historical archives, and selected financial resources to the Colorado Railroad Museum, bolstering the Museum’s exhibits, restoration initiatives, and educational programs for the public. The Rocky Club has enjoyed a close relationship with the Museum since 1959, when it first opened at its present-day Golden, Colorado location. “The merger will also provide RMRRC’s cherished collections with the resources necessary for future preservation, while continuing to engage and inspire rail enthusiasts, young and old,” noted Hammond. “Current Club members will become Museum members, providing them with regular e-newsletters, print magazines, and access to extensive in-person and online programming.”

Transition Schedule & “Colorado Crossings” Event Details
The transition will take place over the next several months. And as a first step, the Museum has announced plans to commemorate the role of Colorado’s rail enthusiast groups—including the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club—during its annual May weekend for rail enthusiasts, “Colorado Crossings.” The Front Range’s largest narrow gauge steam railroading event, Colorado Crossings, is scheduled for May 17-18, 2025, and will celebrate the theme of “Fanning the Future.” This event for 2025 will focus on the railroad enthusiast clubs that have played a vital role in preserving and showcasing Colorado’s unique railroads. Guests will enjoy daily parades featuring all three of the Museum’s Galloping Geese, along with beloved Rio Grande Southern (RGS) steam locomotive No. 20. There will be a re-created train from a 1940s Rocky Mountain Railroad Club excursion over the RGS that will carry passengers behind RGS No. 20, with tours available of private car Rico (preserved by the RMRRC) as well as Chicago, Burlington & Quincy business car No. 96 (preserved by another regional rail enthusiast group, the Intermountain Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society).

History of RMRRC
Founded in 1938, RMRRC has been instrumental in generating interest in railroading through the operation of special excursion trips, many over now-long-vanished railroads including Colorado’s famed RGS. The Club also pioneered in preserving several iconic locomotives and cars, including narrow-gauge RGS steam locomotive No. 20, RGS business car Rico, and Denver & Rio Grande Western “short” caboose No. 0578.
These three historic rail vehicles are today proudly exhibited at the Museum, reflecting the Club’s dedication to preserving and showcasing Colorado’s rich railroad heritage for future generations. Following the Club’s formal donation of these vehicles to the Museum in May 2006, locomotive No. 20 underwent a 14-year, $2M+ restoration, and today proudly pulls trains once again following its 2020 debut. Additionally, the Rocky Mountain Railroad Historical Foundation, created by the Club, has awarded over $52,000 in grants to railrelated nonprofits across the country, supporting the efforts of other preservation organizations.

About the Colorado Railroad Museum
The Colorado Railroad Museum brings Colorado’s rail heritage to life on a spectacular 15-acre site, located in the beautiful Clear Creek Valley just east of downtown Golden. Showcasing nearly 100 narrow- and standard-gauge steam and diesel locomotives, passenger cars, cabooses and freight cars, the museum also features a half-mile operating loop track offering regular weekend train and Galloping Goose rides, a working roundhouse and turntable, railroad research library, exhibition galleries, outdoor meeting pavilion, and a huge indoor HO model railroad and outdoor G-scale garden railway. From ringing locomotive bells to climbing on cabooses, from watching detailed model railroads in operation, to attending special themed events like Day Out With Thomas™ and the THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride, the Colorado Railroad Museum offers interactive family fun mixed with authentic Colorado railroad history. Year-round, online public programming and occasional offsite rail excursions are also offered in partnership with other Colorado heritage railroad operators. For more information, visit www.ColoradoRailroadMuseum.org.