Rio Grande 223 Boiler
There is no bigger story from local rail preservation this year than that of the resumption of work on Rio Grande 223 under the guidance of the C-16 Locomotive Society and the Colorado Railroad Museum. After six years of the locomotive sitting in a state of suspended animation, the resumption of work and its eventual return to Colorado is an exciting conclusion to a long restoration process.
It's also elicited a bit of reflection, I never was a member of the Golden Spike chapter of the R&LHS but my family offered some financial donations (okay my dad bought me the poster they were selling as a fundraiser when we first visited the 223 shops), and I was cheerleading the project from the comfort of my armchair. Occasionally a narrative still arises that that the R&LHS chapter failed the restoration effort, when what I have gathered it was a fairly steady restoration job; paying as they could go and putting quality if slow going work into the engine. Ultimately what doomed the Golden Spike R&LHS was difficulty navigating the mercurial world of city politics, and Ogden City's shut down of the project in 2019 was a slap in the face towards the volunteers working on the engine (que some "well you need to own the property" quote from online commentators, advice I'd argue while true always comes across as "well no shit Sherlock... hammocks! Why didn't I think of that?"). Understandably the Golden Spike chapter continued to fight for the engine's future and by extension the Utah State Railroad museum's future as a whole, creating a narrative as seen by some that they were an obstinate party, despite their effort leading to local news coverage of their efforts making it to the broader public raising awareness of the locomotive and the museum.
In a way the Golden Spike chapter's stubbornness paid off in drawing attention to redevelopment plans at Union Station. One of the biggest controversies my social media and photography pages have ever stumbled into was a report my friends and I published while I was in college over planned changes to Ogden's Union Station (written some years before the 223 lock-out), having seen early draft renovation plans for the site that would have removed the rail displays in favor of an ice rink. We got a lot of push back on that subject (in part because of our panicked, overeager and screaming from the rooftops tone that I can best attribute to "I was younger then"), and I understandably dropped it and shrank away from discussions of it; only to see the discussions on the museum's future flare up after the 223 lock-out occurred. In looking back on the matter recently, I got a chuckle that I threw out barbs out at the time rooted in a "poor, poor, pitiful me" attitude on local rail preservation; it's something that can still stick with me to some regard but has been tempered a lot by a) reminding myself of my armchair enthusiast position in almost all of this and that it isn't so fair to throw darts from the comfort of home and b) the realization that my own dissatisfaction with local steam lacking in action pushed me to take visits to some of my now favorite railroads in Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Ohio and as far as Britain last year (and also with it a greater appreciation for the National Park Service ran Golden Spike site as my one local exception to the norm, I love my time visiting there) in the last few years leading to some of my most favorite adventures and memories that I could never have achieved as a railfan had I just stayed home waiting stubbornly for 223 or some other local project to suddenly roll out in steam here in Utah without any effort from my part! There is also some vindication too with time, since I also believe what has helped shaped Union Station's direction recently for the better has been consistent public feedback and even outcry from the community showing how much we love our railroad museum.
What has happened since, in the whims of city politics Ogden still is marching ahead with considering plans to renovate the Union Station site but public feedback has helped them keep the rail history as part of their future plans. The former Golden Spike members became one of the most vocal voices on this and groups such as "Save Union Station" on social media proved the public desire to see rail history remain on site as renovation plans continued to involve On the museum's end, this has included a growth in the diesel locomotive displays (and an eagle eye looking at my photo can spot the Western Pacific engine down the track, fulfilling a long vacant need to represent Utah's smallest Class One at the museum); and Ogden's work recently shows a continued interest in moving forward with the museum and site redevelopment in step. It is a reminder that for all the foibles of governance, that local voices can matter; and I hope the former 223 restoration crew continues to publicly voice their approval or disapproval of changes at the museum as the place continues to evolve; and that victories such as the Western Pacific finally being fully represented at the museum continue to benefit the local community and preservation interests. Maybe with the right voices in the room as the station's future redevelopment is considered, we can have our cake and eat it too; getting both a better rail museum and a downtown commercial/tourist anchor in the process; but that cannot be achieved if the rail preservation parties were to roll over silently and not raise their voices since without that open public dialogue we could always end right back up at those days of "ice rink" site plans again.
If anything while 2019's 223 shut down could have been read as a local government callous to its rail history, the 2025 donation of the engine seems a more calculated decision to deaccession the piece from the collection to its proper home in Colorado while turning the focus to Utah related subjects (although trust me, I wish something at least could stand in at the museum for Utah's often forgotten narrow gauge history! Anyone got a spare Utah Northern engine lying around?) This last week a former DRGW SW1200 made its way into Utah, en-route to Ogden; the latest addition to a collection of Utah rail history to come to the museum, it's shared time here with 223 before the narrow gauge engine leaves for its new home will likely be short but it is a neat changing of the guard as the collection in Ogden both expands in scope yet with a more narrow focus on Utah railroading.
It is unfortunate though that in a change of stewardship, that the R&LHS chapter won't have much of a hand on the wheel for 223's future; but I suspect once the engine arrives in Colorado the completed cab, appliances and tender worked on by the Golden Spike chapter will be a blessing for the new restoration crew; and attention can be focused on the boiler and running gear instead. The work the R&LHS put in will hopefully prove invaluable to bringing the rest of the project to a close. I think many of us will be excited for the day 223 once again steps out on the rails under steam, the conclusion of a long, sometimes painful, yet what shall be an ultimately victorious restoration effort born from starry eyed and dedicated volunteer work in the full Titfield Thunderbolt-ian vein. Every piece worked on from the Golden Spike R&LHS' contributions to the eventual conclusion in Colorado will represent one of the most storied restoration efforts in American rail preservation history; and I hope that when the day comes 223's whistle is heard in the Rockies again that everyone who has ever worked on the project can smile knowing it proved the naysayers who looked at a pitiful wreck of a locomotive dragged from a Salt Lake City park saying "it can't be done!" wrong once and for all! When we're standing trackside watching 223 roll by someday we'll all owe our gratitude to the dreamers who said it was possible and started the project. I hope to be there in Golden, or Durango or Chama or wherever it is that day when it finally happens to see it myself.
Rio Grande 223 Boiler
There is no bigger story from local rail preservation this year than that of the resumption of work on Rio Grande 223 under the guidance of the C-16 Locomotive Society and the Colorado Railroad Museum. After six years of the locomotive sitting in a state of suspended animation, the resumption of work and its eventual return to Colorado is an exciting conclusion to a long restoration process.
It's also elicited a bit of reflection, I never was a member of the Golden Spike chapter of the R&LHS but my family offered some financial donations (okay my dad bought me the poster they were selling as a fundraiser when we first visited the 223 shops), and I was cheerleading the project from the comfort of my armchair. Occasionally a narrative still arises that that the R&LHS chapter failed the restoration effort, when what I have gathered it was a fairly steady restoration job; paying as they could go and putting quality if slow going work into the engine. Ultimately what doomed the Golden Spike R&LHS was difficulty navigating the mercurial world of city politics, and Ogden City's shut down of the project in 2019 was a slap in the face towards the volunteers working on the engine (que some "well you need to own the property" quote from online commentators, advice I'd argue while true always comes across as "well no shit Sherlock... hammocks! Why didn't I think of that?"). Understandably the Golden Spike chapter continued to fight for the engine's future and by extension the Utah State Railroad museum's future as a whole, creating a narrative as seen by some that they were an obstinate party, despite their effort leading to local news coverage of their efforts making it to the broader public raising awareness of the locomotive and the museum.
In a way the Golden Spike chapter's stubbornness paid off in drawing attention to redevelopment plans at Union Station. One of the biggest controversies my social media and photography pages have ever stumbled into was a report my friends and I published while I was in college over planned changes to Ogden's Union Station (written some years before the 223 lock-out), having seen early draft renovation plans for the site that would have removed the rail displays in favor of an ice rink. We got a lot of push back on that subject (in part because of our panicked, overeager and screaming from the rooftops tone that I can best attribute to "I was younger then"), and I understandably dropped it and shrank away from discussions of it; only to see the discussions on the museum's future flare up after the 223 lock-out occurred. In looking back on the matter recently, I got a chuckle that I threw out barbs out at the time rooted in a "poor, poor, pitiful me" attitude on local rail preservation; it's something that can still stick with me to some regard but has been tempered a lot by a) reminding myself of my armchair enthusiast position in almost all of this and that it isn't so fair to throw darts from the comfort of home and b) the realization that my own dissatisfaction with local steam lacking in action pushed me to take visits to some of my now favorite railroads in Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Ohio and as far as Britain last year (and also with it a greater appreciation for the National Park Service ran Golden Spike site as my one local exception to the norm, I love my time visiting there) in the last few years leading to some of my most favorite adventures and memories that I could never have achieved as a railfan had I just stayed home waiting stubbornly for 223 or some other local project to suddenly roll out in steam here in Utah without any effort from my part! There is also some vindication too with time, since I also believe what has helped shaped Union Station's direction recently for the better has been consistent public feedback and even outcry from the community showing how much we love our railroad museum.
What has happened since, in the whims of city politics Ogden still is marching ahead with considering plans to renovate the Union Station site but public feedback has helped them keep the rail history as part of their future plans. The former Golden Spike members became one of the most vocal voices on this and groups such as "Save Union Station" on social media proved the public desire to see rail history remain on site as renovation plans continued to involve On the museum's end, this has included a growth in the diesel locomotive displays (and an eagle eye looking at my photo can spot the Western Pacific engine down the track, fulfilling a long vacant need to represent Utah's smallest Class One at the museum); and Ogden's work recently shows a continued interest in moving forward with the museum and site redevelopment in step. It is a reminder that for all the foibles of governance, that local voices can matter; and I hope the former 223 restoration crew continues to publicly voice their approval or disapproval of changes at the museum as the place continues to evolve; and that victories such as the Western Pacific finally being fully represented at the museum continue to benefit the local community and preservation interests. Maybe with the right voices in the room as the station's future redevelopment is considered, we can have our cake and eat it too; getting both a better rail museum and a downtown commercial/tourist anchor in the process; but that cannot be achieved if the rail preservation parties were to roll over silently and not raise their voices since without that open public dialogue we could always end right back up at those days of "ice rink" site plans again.
If anything while 2019's 223 shut down could have been read as a local government callous to its rail history, the 2025 donation of the engine seems a more calculated decision to deaccession the piece from the collection to its proper home in Colorado while turning the focus to Utah related subjects (although trust me, I wish something at least could stand in at the museum for Utah's often forgotten narrow gauge history! Anyone got a spare Utah Northern engine lying around?) This last week a former DRGW SW1200 made its way into Utah, en-route to Ogden; the latest addition to a collection of Utah rail history to come to the museum, it's shared time here with 223 before the narrow gauge engine leaves for its new home will likely be short but it is a neat changing of the guard as the collection in Ogden both expands in scope yet with a more narrow focus on Utah railroading.
It is unfortunate though that in a change of stewardship, that the R&LHS chapter won't have much of a hand on the wheel for 223's future; but I suspect once the engine arrives in Colorado the completed cab, appliances and tender worked on by the Golden Spike chapter will be a blessing for the new restoration crew; and attention can be focused on the boiler and running gear instead. The work the R&LHS put in will hopefully prove invaluable to bringing the rest of the project to a close. I think many of us will be excited for the day 223 once again steps out on the rails under steam, the conclusion of a long, sometimes painful, yet what shall be an ultimately victorious restoration effort born from starry eyed and dedicated volunteer work in the full Titfield Thunderbolt-ian vein. Every piece worked on from the Golden Spike R&LHS' contributions to the eventual conclusion in Colorado will represent one of the most storied restoration efforts in American rail preservation history; and I hope that when the day comes 223's whistle is heard in the Rockies again that everyone who has ever worked on the project can smile knowing it proved the naysayers who looked at a pitiful wreck of a locomotive dragged from a Salt Lake City park saying "it can't be done!" wrong once and for all! When we're standing trackside watching 223 roll by someday we'll all owe our gratitude to the dreamers who said it was possible and started the project. I hope to be there in Golden, or Durango or Chama or wherever it is that day when it finally happens to see it myself.