Western Railroad Discussion > Leadville, CO

I photographed this station in Leadville, CO, a few weeks ago. It appears to be setting on temporary pilings and to have been moved from another location. Does anyone know anything about it? What railroad? Where was original location?

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glibby Wrote:
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> I photographed this station in Leadville, CO, a
> few weeks ago. It appears to be setting on
> temporary pilings and to have been moved from
> another location. Does anyone know anything about
> it? What railroad? Where was original location?

Interesting!! This looks like the old D&RGW Leadville depot. The attached photo, taken in July of 1974 during an afternoon thunderstorm, should help! (It's ironic that both photos were taken on an "unsunny" day.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/14 10:22 by CrudPunko.

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Bingo! That's got to be it. Wish I could have seen it in '74. Where was it located in Leadville?

Do you have other Leadville area photos from the 1970's?

Here it was 9/19/85 and 10/5/13. Gerry

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It seems too long a building to move. Do you think the current location as seen in your 2013 photo and my 2014 photo is the original location?

think it was moved in 3 sections or 2

Thanks. Do you have other RR photos from Leadville in the 1970's or 80's, or even earlier?

glibby Wrote:
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> Do you have other Leadville area photos from the
> 1970's?


here are a couple I shot ... #1 D&RGW on Mar. 18, 1972 and #2 the C&S roundhouse with #828, a regular in Leadville back then ... not 70's, but close, took this on Mar. 30, 1969

#828 had a huge plow on the other end.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/14 11:27 by valmont.

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From the various photos that show the metal clad building I would say its still in the same spot. However it looks like it got a concrete foundation at some point and it was raised. After raising they leveled the area so the ground was equal front and back. the first pix shows the side that had the loading dock..I think..and it looks like maybe they are going to put a new foundation on that side...?? Maybe.. Nice timeline of this old depot.
Roger Beckett

I was there about a month ago and surmised that it had been raised and rock added
around the foundation. There is a bunch of mining artifacts out front like there may
be some kind of mining museum in the works. I believe it is in its original location.

From what I recall, the station was cut in half or in thirds and moved by a rock company back in the mid-1980s. The cut area has a tin cover which you can see on the roof. The depot is now on a hill away from the original right of way. The D&RGW line into Leadville was torn up after the SP-DRGW-UP merger.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/14 19:38 by rrpreservation.

Valmont: Great photos of Leadville. Would be interested in any others you have, the older the better.

Jerry

Here is a photo from my collection showing 1/3rd of the building sitting in the yard well south of it's original location. The date would be after April 23/24 1983 as the F-units from the Rio Grande Zephyr are now in work train duty hauling slag ballast over Tennessee Pass. I have several other photos of the move, this one was handy.
Nathan Z
Colorado Springs, CO

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dan Wrote:

> think it was moved in 3 sections or 2

The building was cut into 4 pieces to be moved. In GPutz's 1985 photo, two of the four have been reunited, and by 1987 a third piece had been added to the far end as seen in the 2013 photo. The fourth piece is located at the same business, but at the back of the lot:

http://goo.gl/maps/tjw02

Thanks very much. Do you know exactly (approximately) the original location was?

That's a great shot Nathan! Even if its not in its original location, it is great to see it saved. I'm curious why the company is stabilizing the foundation with railroad ties. I'm guessing because the pile may continue to shift making the use of concrete hard to use.

Nathan: This is a great photo. Do you have others of Leadville in that era, or perhaps earlier?

glibby Wrote:

> Thanks very much. Do you know exactly
> (approximately) the original location was?

From what I can find, approximately here:

http://goo.gl/maps/mZ0QQ

The building in question also appears to have been the Rio Grande's Leadville freight depot:

http://www.ghostdepot.com/rg/images/tennessee%20route/leadville%20freight%20depot%20end%201879%20d2-5.jpg

The D&RGW passenger depot, torn down around 1940, was a large 1 and 2 story affair along the lines of Durango's depot:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,826082
http://www.narrowgauge.org/ngc/graphics/tkierscey/drg/drg003.jpg

The background of this view shows the passenger depot on the left edge of the photo and the freight house on the right edge:

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/2417

That's certainly an authoritative response. Thanks very much.