Historic Dumont Depot arrives at train museum in Granby after a long road trip

The Moffat Road Railroad Museum moved the historic 1902 Dumont Depot to Granby on Tuesday. If you happened to be driving on U.S. Highway 40 in Grand County, it would have been a hard site to miss as it arrived in the afternoon, and the 46-by-20-foot building seemed to swallow the large flatbed commercial truck it was delivered on.

The depot journey started in Dumont traveling west on Interstate-70 to Colorado Highway 9, then north to Kremmling, and finally arriving to its new home at the museum via Highway 40. But the depot’s new life doesn’t end with its final destination at the train museum. Once the Dumont Depot is restored, it will serve as a community event center and a rotating exhibit space.

The museum also plans to add a custom-built train that kids can ride, and the depot will also serve as a ticket booth for the ride once it is running.

In its past life, the Dumont Depot was once an important stop on the Colorado and Southern Railroad. This was a part of the Georgetown Loop, which served the mining economy along Clear Creek Canyon and operated extensively in the late 19th century. Its original location was where the eastbound lane of I-70 sits today in Dumont.

However, the depot’s heydays dwindled by the 1950s once the mining industry started to decline, making the railway less in demand. Then the construction of the I-70 caused the depot to be relocated out of the roadway’s right-of-way, according to a press release from the train museum.

“The depot is typical of train depots used during the heyday of the Moffat Road Railroad and, despite being more than 100 years old, is in remarkably good condition,” the museum stated in the press release.

The building was also the post office and depot for Mill Valley.

After the depot relocated due to the construction of the Interstate, it was used as a storage facility by MAD Adventures rafting near the banks of Clear Creek. However, the owner of MAD Adventures had a need for a larger storage facility. Seeing the historical value in this 121-year-old building, the owner contacted the Moffat Road Railroad Museum to ask if they would want the building. Dave Naples, executive director of the museum, said yes. 

MAD Adventures donated the depot to the museum. After raising the money and preparing the building for the move, it was moved by Elite Movers and Terry’s Crane Service.

Naples said that hiring the trucker and crane operator to move the depot wasn’t cheap. According to the museum’s press release, the price tag of moving the depot was around $85,000. 

A big open building was what the museum was missing, according to him. 

“We can use it when we have our major events … we never have had a place to do them. We’ve just forced them into spaces we had,” he said.

Now the volunteers at the train museum in Grand County can breathe life back into the depot. 

“We will restore the building to its original condition and appearance and will use it as a community center and ticket office for the soon arriving Family Train Ride,” he said. “The community center aspect of this facility is really important to both our community and as a destination attraction.”

The museum estimates that they need to raise as much as $125,000 in order to complete restorations to the building. For anyone interesting in simply donating to the cause, the museum has PayPal set up to accept donations. All donors will receive a donation receipt for tax records. The museum also has a “Buy a Tie” fundraising event, where families or businesses can buy an engraved brass plaque that is mounted to a railroad tie on the Family Train Ride track. 

Museum staff says that it’s a fun way to be remembered as a supporter of the museum.

The train museum says visitation doubled this summer, and the museum is proving to be quite an attraction for tourists in Grand County.

“We expect to see even more visitors and activity in the coming years with the addition of the depot and the new family train ride, which we plan to have in operation next summer,” Naples said.

Currently, the museum is closed, but curious visitors can still see the pale green depot sitting outside. The museum will re-open for the holiday season on Nov. 24.