Re: Ridgway freight house still existed in 1968

As far as I remember.... which sometimes that's hard for me to do... the track was there in 1980. I moved back to the Montrose area in 1977. In 1979 I lived outside of Colona about 75 feet from the ROW. The rails were still there. I crossed them every day driving from the house to the highway.

As for the freight portion of the Depot, it was there in 1973 when I bought the 0400. The "remains" of the freight section existed until about 1977 or so. Then....it vanished when Ridgway started to develop and the dam and park were under construction. The depot served the D&RGW until 1965, when the railroad sold the depot to Lester Lowery for $7,929, who then sold the structure to Milton Mitchell. He appreciated the historical value of the depot and wanted to make sure it was preserved.

Mitchell removed about two thirds of the freight area, moved the remaining portion of the depot about 100 yards across the tracks to the east, and turned it 90 degrees. At some point, the Mitchells replaced the lower wainscoting with layers of bricks. The remaining part of the freight section was turned around and moved some 500 feet up the tracks toward Montrose. It sat near the tracks when it was used in "True Grit". About 100 feet of rail was laid in front of the building and the 0400 was put there. It was pulled by a tractor to make the train "move" for the movie. The conductor in the movie is holding a railroad lantern. That lantern was borrowed from the CRRM. Bob Richardson told me they never did get that lantern back.


Jerry



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2009 03:04PM by jalbers.