New paint for old caboose at Eagle County Historical Society Museum
Cracked windows on the railroad car have been replaced with shatterproof glass
Eagle County Historical Society/Courtesy image
The faded yellow paint and cracked copula windows are gone. The 72-year-old Denver & Rio Grande Railroad caboose that is a key feature of the Eagle County Historical Society Museum complex in Eagle is looking pretty spiffy these days.
Over the past couple of years, the Historical Society, with the support of its members and the greater community, has replaced the cracked windows on the railroad car with shatterproof glass and repainted the outside. The caboose is now distinctly orangish, a color that is historically accurate.
The local historical society consulted railroad historians during the several-year effort to get the worn-out caboose looking young again. Archival records revealed that caboose No. 01461 was built for $10,740 in 1951 and was originally painted black. In 1972, the railroad rebranded its cabooses with the unique rhomboid-shaped D&RG “Action Road” logo featuring dashed lines; then changed the color of the cabooses to a distinct orange known as “Aspen Gold” or sometimes “Grande Gold.” The Eagle caboose was painted orange in 1974.
Over the years, that orange paint faded to a light yellow, the very color of the caboose when it arrived at the museum complex in July 1990. Eagle County Historical Society President Kathy Heicher notes that Historical Society leaders at the time (including Frank Doll, Don Simonton, and Roy Robinson) were determined to get a real train car to represent the county’s railroad history. They successfully lobbied D&RG officials for the donation of a caboose, assuming that the car would be towed by train to Eagle where it could be off-loaded.
Railroad officials rejected that scenario because the caboose was no longer certified as safe for rail travel. The Historical Society ended up trucking the caboose from Denver to Eagle and setting it into place with a crane, with the help of the Eagle County Road and Bridge crew.
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Plans called for the caboose to be repainted prior to the official opening of the museum on Memorial Day weekend in 1991. The intent was to use the caboose as a way to share the history of Minturn, a railroad town. But money and time ran short. The caboose remained a faded yellow, but proved very popular with children and railroad buffs. Vandals took a toll on the windows over the years.
Three years ago, the current Historical Society board tackled the challenge of improving the caboose. Consulting with several railroad historians, including John Tudek of Denver, the board decided to restore the caboose to the “Aspen Gold” color, theorizing that the bright color would weather better than the original black.
Retired railroad workers steered the board to the right type of paint (high-quality polyurethane), which was special ordered by the Paint Bucket in Eagle. Zach Edson and his Eagle Valley Painting crew, who normally paint houses, took on the challenging task of painting the caboose. Signature Signs in Eagle created the stencil for the Rio Grande logo. Alpine Glass and Mirror replaced the windows.
The total cost of the fix-up project was comparable to the original cost of the caboose. Funding for the caboose improvements came from a combination of Historical Society supporters and grants from the town of Eagle, Vail Valley Board of Realtors Foundation, and the Eagle River Foundation.
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“This was truly a community project,” Heicher said.
Tudek shared photos of the repainted caboose with retired railroaders and historians at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden.
“They were pleased and impressed with the efforts your people have gone through to preserve this car,” he said, citing in particular the detailed work on the logo.
The Eagle County Historical Museum is located at Chambers Park, 100 Fairgrounds Road in Eagle. The museum is open daily, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., through mid-September. Admission is free. The caboose is accessible throughout the year.
Visit the Eagle County Historical Society at EagleCountyHistoricalSociety.com.
