Re: Ridgway Railroad Museum

It is great to see the restoration work happening in Ridgway. They are doing a fantastic job on the RGS 252 restoration.

I see on their Ridgway Website it list some recent history of the RGS 252. One part states:

It was subsequently sold again to Don Shank and moved to Durango, CO in about 2000. It was moved to Monte Vista, CO. It was later traded to the Willamette Valley RR in about 2014. The Schaeffer family bought it in 2016, donated it to the RRM and it was moved to Ridgway on 5/23/16.

This part is not correct as the standard gauge shortline freight railway, the "Willamette Valley RR" never owned the 252. It is possible that the writer was thinking of the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley RR but even then, the SVRR never owned the RGS 252.

What happened was in March 2012 Don Shank sold the RGS 252 to the Western Railway Preservation Society (WRPS). They had plans of moving the 252 to Oregon, restoring it and operating it on the SVRR. However, the needed funding never came about and the WRPS sold the 252 to Tim Bain in 2013. Tim wanted to see the 252 restored and remain in Colorado so he sold it to the Schaeffer Family in February 2016. The rest seem to be correct.

I know this doesn't really matter too much but I also know some people like to track the history of this equipment closely. I can just imagine the debates in 20 years about IF the 252 went to Oregon or not. Either way, the thing that really matters in my opinion is that the RGS 252 is being restored to operation and its back in its home of Ridgway. So "Well Done" to Karl and the rest of his team in Ridgway. I couldn't imagine a better home for the RGS 252.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2022 04:54PM by Tim Bain.