Not sure if this story has been posted on here but I found it on a different forum.
Montrose Rio Grande steam exhibit deteriorating
November 13, 2007
Trains Newswire: MONTROSE, Colo. - Former Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow-gauge 2-8-0 No. 278, along with a boxcar and caboose displayed on a trestle above Cimarron Creek near Montrose, is drawing the attention of residents and the National Park Service because of its deteriorating condition after more than 30 years of display. "There are certain elements of the train that are in pretty poor condition," National Park Service archaeologist Forest Frost told the Montrose Daily Press.
The engine and cars are on display at Morrow Point outside of Cimarron. The National Park Service is applying to get the locomotive listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The equipment is part of the Cimarron Canyon Rail Exhibit and has been on lease to the park service from the city of Montrose since 1973. "It's a pretty unique resource and it's known to certain people nationwide," Frost said.
After No. 278 was retired in the 1950s it was put on display in Montrose along North Townsend Avenue. The caboose joined it after it was purchased by a local garden club and deeded to the city. Montrose leased the equipment to the park service because of problems with vandalism. Now the park service is working with the Bureau of Land Management through an interagency agreement to have the exhibit put on the National Register of Historic Places. Frost said this would help bring in finances necessary for improving the display. He said his department would also like to work with the city to obtain state finances.
In 2005 a $48,000 allotment was secured by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to help with planning for the restoration and future protection. Frost said about $290,000 is needed to stabilize and repair the rotten elements. Representatives of the park service presented the project's status to Montrose City Council at a Nov. 1 work session, the Daily Press reported. Resident Bob Schaeffer expressed his desire that action be taken soon. Schaeffer brought the exhibit's deterioration to the council's attention in 2003. "It's no longer practical to maintain it on the bridge" Bob Schaeffer told the Daily Press. "It's got to be put some place that we can be sure that it can be maintained. You can't expect that stuff to exist very long without maintenance."
He said Ridgway Railroad Museum could be a more accessible, suitable alternative. It would receive more exposure to visitors and less to weathering. "That isn't necessarily the only way it could go," Schaeffer said. "The city could display it in the city limits in some manner." But the council has expressed sentiment toward keeping the exhibit where it is. Councilor Ed Ulibarri said the city leased it to the park service - for 99 years - because of lack of finances for maintenance. "It kind of looks like that's where it belongs because that's where it came out of the canyon to come into Montrose," Ulibarri said.
Before improvements can begin, the locomotive and cars must be removed from the trestle. Frost said this would require building a structure to pull the equipment off. Montrose Parks Planner Dennis Erickson has taken action to bring attention to the exhibit and help find financing for improvements. He went to Denver in March to speak about the exhibit and its inclusion in President Bush's $3 billion National Park Centennial Initiative. Erickson said once the funding is there, the exhibit will have a visitor center and a preservation studio where it can be improved and displayed to the public through the winter.
The locomotive was built by Baldwin in March 1882 and was a class C-16 2-8-0 on the Rio Grande. It was used on the D&RGW's line through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, on the Crested Butte Branch, and in the Gunnison yard for more than 70 years. The boxcar, D&RGW No. 3132, was built in 1904 by American Car & Foundry. Caboose No. 0577 was built in 1886. The trestle was built in 1895 replacing a wooden trestle dating from around 1882. The trestle was originally 288 feet long but only a small portion of it remains. Today it is the last remaining railroad trestle along the narrow gauge Rio Grande line through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
