Moffat Road Railroad Museum on track with capital campaign for depot and train

The “quiet” phase of the fund raising capital campaign for the Moffat Road Railroad Museum in Granby is officially over and now we are beginning the public outreach phase of this important effort.

In other words, we are going public with official requests to raise funds to finish the new Family Train Ride and the Dumont Depot project.

I say “we” because I serve on the board of directors for the Moffat Road Railroad Museum, a 501( c ) 3. I have come to see the incredible potential for this small and entertaining museum to continue growing as a top-notch museum and visitor destination in Granby.

To get to completion on this important and final phase of finishing the museum, we now need $420,000, which is more than half of the entire campaign goal of $900,000. Yes, it’s hard to believe, but we’ve managed to raise $480,000 of this campaign from a variety of donors including the Milanovich Trust, the Boetcher Foundation, the El Pomar Foundation, the Gates Family Foundation, Mountain Parks Electric, the Grand Foundation (donor advised funds) and many private individuals (including our board members) to this campaign.

The goal of this campaign is to complete the renovation of the historic Dumont Depot, a genuine 1902 Colorado and Southern Rail Road depot from Colorado, and to complete the final touches on our new Family Train Ride, which will be a 15-inch gauge railroad ride for children and adults around our museum in Granby.

The Dumont Depot building itself was donated to the museum by the Barwick clan and the train was purchased and donated to the museum by the Milanovich Trust. But it takes time and money to renovate such an old building and to get a family fun train ride up and running.

Our plans are to make the Dumont Depot, which was moved to the museum in September of 2024, into a community events and meeting center that will also serve as the ticket booth and kiosk for the family train ride. This will entail the addition of an annex for a kitchen and restrooms.

For the train ride, we are at the phase of bringing the rails up to safety codes, building a winter storage shed for the train and embellishing and improving the ride overall so we can be operating it by the summer of 2026.

But all of this takes money. Yes, we do generate revenue through ticket sales to enter the museum (at the rate of 6,000 a year), and we do generate revenue through gift shop sales. But that’s not enough to fund capital improvements, much less operate the museum.

We hope to generate significant new revenue once the Family Train Ride is up and running and we plan to earn new revenue by leasing out the Dumont Depot for events such as weddings, family reunions, birthday parties and public gatherings.

But it takes money to get there and that’s why we are conducting this campaign.

The ultimate goal is to have the depot and train ride completed by the fall of 2026 when the new commuter rail service will start running between Grand County and Denver, with the terminus in Granby, right at the Granby train station near the museum.

Even without the depot and train ride the Moffat Road Railroad Museum is a valuable attraction in Granby in and of itself. Aside from being voted the Best Museum in Grand County for the last three years, the museum chronicles and celebrates the important Moffat Road rail line, once the highest railroad in the world and featuring the Moffat Tunnel underneath the Continental Divide. That tunnel allows massive rail freight traffic, Amtrak passenger rail and now the upcoming Denver commuter rail service. This is all very important for the economy of the Western Slope, Grand County and the United States in general.

Remember, we operate on land owned by the Town of Granby but leased to us at a rate that makes it possible for us to operate for the general good of the town and its visitors. Granby is an excellent partner in this endeavor.

The entire endeavor was started by Dave Naples (our executive director) 20 years ago as the Moffat Road Model Railroad Club. Naples has been tireless in driving the museum to its status as an important and entertaining asset in Granby.

The museum features an almost completed HO scale Moffat railroad layout that shows the route of the famous rail line, both over and under the Divide, an award-winning and longest running Christmas train, four life-size cabooses, an historic Shay locomotive, a renowned steam crane, a finished caboose and more.

So please, consider a donation to the Dumont Depot and Family Train Ride Capital Campaign so we can finish this important phase of the Moffat Road Railroad Museum by the time those important commuter trains start arriving in Granby in the fall of 2026.

Send your donations to: Moffat Road Railroad Museum, P. O. Box 2221, Granby, CO, 80446. Since the museum is non-profit, all donations can be deducted. Even more worthwhile, the museum can offer a Colorado income tax credit as we are included in the Colorado Enterprise Zone. Or, go to https://moffatroadrailroadmuseum.org/projects/depot/.

Every penny counts in this important economic benefit for Granby, where the Moffat Road Railroad Museum is a true family and tourist destination where people stop, tour the museum and spend money in Granby.

Patrick Brower is the Enterprise Facilitator for the Grand Enterprise Initiative. He offers free and confidential business management coaching to anyone who wants to start or expand a business in Grand County. He is also the author of “KILLDOZER: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage.”  He can be reached by calling 970-531-0632 or at pbrower@consultbrower.com.