Caboose hobby shop and Colorado Railroad Museum - Model Railroader Magazine

Hello All,

And a hearty pre-welcome to the Centennial state !!!

rrinker

I am there for work - in Black Hawk to be exact.

The Black Hawk/Central City area is only about 45-minutes from Golden and the Colorado Railroad Museum.

The museum is about 10-minutes downstream of the Coors plant and Golden, Colorado.

The grain used to make the beer is still shipped in by rail and there is an extensive yard across the creek from the museum.

You are about a half hour from George town and/or Silver Plume. When riding the George Town Loop I prefer to begin and end at Silver Plume (a little farther west on I-70).

This is where the engine house is along with the refuelling facilities and a small gift shop are located.

Ask at the gift shop if a mechanic is available for a tour of the maintenance facilities. They maintain both steam and diesel motive power out of this same shop. The steam locos have been converted to run on oil rather than coal.

Just across I-70 is the town of Silver Plume. It's a sleepy little town with a few shops but the architecture, with it's modeling potential is well worth the time.

An added bonus on this line is to visit the Lebanon And Everett mine; which is only accessible via the train (bring some extra cash to tip your mine tour guide).

If you are a mining buff check out the Argo Gold mine tours in Idaho Springs. Idaho Springs is a restored Victorian age town with many restaurants and the Tommy Knocker brewery. Look up "Tommy Knockers" to understand the mining reference.

To return to the Black Hawk/Central City area you can take "Oh My God!" road. Yes, that is the real name.

Along the route you will be rewarded with spectacular views and pass by some of the last operating gold mines in Colorado.

The almost ghost-town or Russell is along this route and a side excursion on its now abandoned streets is fascinating. 

Greely is about 2-hours north-east, but well worth the trip to the Colorado Model Railroad Museum.

I live about 3-hours away and try to get there on special trains days.

The last one I attended was the Extreme Trains Day. There were two trains running; one a tanker train and the other an auto rack train that were amazingly long.

On one point of the layout you could see the same train on three different loops!

While there go to the dispatchers desk and see if one of the volunteers can take you on a behind-the-scenes tour.

Become a member to support this amazing endeavor.

About 2-hours to the south is Colorado Springs- -welcome to the west where distances are much greater. To the west of Colorado Springs is the town of Canyõn City, home to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.

This out-and-back excursion train is still lead by F-units in their orange, silver and black livery colors.

A visit to the depot is great.

If you don't have enough time for the train head a little farther west to the Royal Gorge Bridge.

This is one of the highest suspension bridges in North America. An incline railroad drops you track-side into the gorge. Figure out the train's schedule and watch the excursion train from the riverside observation platform. 

If you make it to Denver the Forney Museum of Transportation is a must see. One of the last remaining Big Boy steamers (albeit non-running) is housed here along with one of my favorite diesels- -a GP30 in it's original Rio Grande paint scheme.

As far as Caboose Hobbies, it is worth a visit. The original; at it's Broadway location, was a mecca. When I would visit there would be license plates from as far away as Wyoming, Kansas, Utah and New Mexico. 

The new location is great. Yet it doesn't seem to have the same personality as the original. The new owner is passionate about the hobby and this store is definitely worth patronizing.

Yes, distance here in Colorado are greater than in many other states but the travel times are well worth it.

Have a great time and as always...

I hope this helps.