Re: Protection vs Preservation vs Purpose - History of the RR Display

I’ve visited 278 on a number of our Colorado visits, and this thread has made me more curious about the park itself, and why someone way back when chose to embrace a railroad theme.

Seems the Blue Mesa Dam was built in 1965, and I gather the Morrow Point Dam not long after. Water control was the main purpose, with recreation a logical ancillary use. The entire recreation complex is the Curecanti National Recreation Area, run by the federal National Park Service. The railroad exhibit(s) are at the campground & Canyon at the west end.

The history of the train display is here [www.nps.gov]. The equipment was placed on the bridge in 1975 (geez, 45 years ago!), and as of 1989 has been leased from Montrose by the NPS for 99 years.

Then this part of the website explains the equipment restoration process, which began in 2010. [www.nps.gov] This part of the website apparently hasn’t been updated since 2015, so it’s sorely overdue.

The restoration was a lot more comprehensive than I had assumed, and it looks like the parks service are to be commended for their commitment to it. And their philosophy does seem to be to exhibit the equipment in context with the location, which is a valuable interpretive/educational tool.

Cheers,
Ralph