Colorado Railroad Depots

(with a heavy emphasis on Santa Fe)

(composed for 1024x768 screen resolution)

Santa Fe Relic Hunter:

Being a Santa Fe railroad fan, I have made a point of tracking down all surviving depots from that company. Some of these structures are now approaching the century mark, indeed if not even older. I had already been to most of these locations when I came across a website dedicated to this specific subject. It has a few that I didn’t know about, and I know of a few it does not know about. It was on the surviving Colorado depots site that I learned of the need to locate Palmer Lake’s former depot. I think I have found the former Devine depot as well. As an aside, I was able to verify all but three of the Colorado list of Santa Fe depots in the Summer of 2005, and I finished the job in 2006. I could not have found Palmer Lake without the initial assistance of the Palmer Lake Historical Society.

On the two lists below, you will find reference to 111 depots, freight depots/stations, and included in that number are two towers, and six shops or roundhouses. A few of these 111 are only noted by their GPS coordinates. Two replica depots (referenced using italics) are not included in this count. An additional depot and tower are noted in the featured placenames sections (along with some others already on the Santa Fe list), and the Dispositions List has another 50 structures not counting some overlap with the two lists. However three of these may be other depots already listed elsewhere, and one is a tower which burned and is thusly noted there. That means information on at least 160 railroad structures that are/were in Colorado may be found here largely covering the high desert Plains of the Eastern Slope and lush vallies and foothills that is the Front Range.

Index to subsections on this page

The Lists
Selected Placenames
Amity | Avondale | Devine | Fountain | Gilcrest | Greenland | Grote | Hasty | Palmer Lake
Dispositions List
Notes
Photolocation
Reference
Links

The Depot Lists:

I have broken out non-Santa Fe depots to a separate list further below. The list immediately below has all depots that were owned or occupied by the the Santa Fe during its life. Generally, the list starts with Denver, goes south following the joint-line (and roughly I-25) to Pueblo, and then the line to La Junta (and roughly US 50). Just before La Junta, the list jumps down to Raton Pass and Trinidad, following the mainline (and roughly US 350, then US 50) to Holly and the Kansas stateline.

Usually links will take you to a photograph taken in 2005 or 2006, unless noted otherwise. If “GPS” appears in the Present location column, the Notes column will give the longitude, latitude, and elevation as determined by my GPS receiver. For GPS entries, I either know the depot had originally been at that exact location, or I was able to determine the position from photographs. I have no way of knowing the error in GPS elevations, but none of these locations had poor satellite precision at the times I recorded them.

Santa Fe including joint agencies (50)
Original Location	Present Location	Last Visit	Notes
Denver, CO	original location (1914)	2006	stone masonry; Denver Union Station; AT&SF was joint owner with four other railroads: C&S, CB&Q, D&RGW, and Rock Island (CRI&P), and later Omnitrax; tenants DI, DBW, MP
South Denver, CO Interlocking Tower	GPS	26 August 2006	104° 59' 31" W, 39° 42' 20" N, elev. 5273' (2-way interpolated)
Englewood, CO, Hampden Ave	Dartmouth just east of joint-line	16 July 2006	stucco; rumored conversion to a museum in progress
Englewood, CO	GPS	26 June 2006	105° 0' 4" W, 39° 39' 9" N, elev. 5326'
Littleton, CO, Littleton Blvd	moved a little north of original location	16 July 2006	frame; Depot Art Center on east side of joint-line, near courthouse
Sedalia, CO	moved to Douglas Ave on south side of joint-line	7 July 2006	frame; private residence, restored
Sedalia, CO	GPS	7 July 2006	104° 57' 54" W, 39° 26' 22" N, elev. 5859'
Castle Rock, CO	original location (1911)	22 July 2006	frame; trackside joint-line, For Sale, call Ben Cox/Tracy Booher (303) 688-1550
Larkspur, CO	Palmer Lake, CO	25 June 2005	frame; heavily remodeled private residence
Greenland, CO	GPS	15 July 2006	104° 51' 32" W, 39° 11' 15" N, elev. 6938'
Palmer Lake, CO	south of Jefferson, CO	6 July 2005	frame w/2 bay windows; not visible from public access; private property; joint AT&SF/D&RGW
Palmer Lake, CO	GPS	25 June 2005	104° 54' 43" W, 39° 7' 29" N, elev. 7250'
Pring, CO	south of Jefferson, CO	—	frame; moved to become Palmer Lake, CO, depot (see above)
Colorado Springs, CO	original location (1918)	16 July 2005	brick; offices; two freight depots nearby, joint AT&SF/C&S
Fountain, CO	7825 E. C&S road	22 July 2006	frame; heavily remodeled; private residence
Piñon, CO	moved?	15 July 2006	frame; east of joint-line @ I-25 exit #110
Pueblo, CO	original location (1889)	15 July 2006	brick/stone; Pueblo Union Depot; AT&SF, C&S, D&RGW, MP joint owners; AT&SF, D&RGW, MP freight stations nearby also; museum w/yard
Florence, CO	800 Main St.	15 July 2006	retired 1947, moved from 1888 location, frame w/brick exterior, private residence
Florence, CO	original location	1 July 2006	brick; joint D&RGW/AT&SF since 1947
Cañon City, CO	original location (1914)	22 July 2006	brick; now passenger stn. for Cañon City & Royal Gorge tourist line
Cañon City, CO	original location (1888?)	22 July 2006	frame; ex-freight depot; business; pre-1914 agency?
Devine, CO	North La Junta, CO	30 July 2005	frame w/interlocking bay extension; remodeled, storage behind private residence
Avondale, CO	Devine, CO	9 July 2005	frame w/interlocking bay extension; remodeled, residence and Fujita’s Cafe (still in business) on US50; see also
Boone, CO	original location (1913)	9 July 2005	frame; town hall; same plan as (Swink), CO
Fowler, CO	original location (1913)	23 July 2005	brick; same plan as Manzanola and Holly
Manzanola, CO	original location (1913)	23 July 2005	brick; same plan as Fowler and Holly
Rocky Ford, CO	original location (1907)	27 August 2005	brick; Chamber of Commerce

Trinidad, CO	original location (1960)	16 July 2005	brick passenger Amtrak station retired 2006; freight depot frame & brick; Antiques shop
Hoehnes, CO	South of Texas Creek on CO69	16 July 2005	frame; partially visible from highway through trees; private property
Hoehnes, CO	GPS	16 July 2005	104° 22' 46" W, 37° 16' 50" N, elev. 5725' (best estimate from photo location)
Model, CO	Trinidad, CO	16 July 2005	frame w/stucco added later; For Sale w/5 acres, call Sharon McDade (719) 846-4653
Model, CO	GPS	16 July 2005	104° 14' 42" W, 37° 22' 23" N, elev. 5617' (exact position from photo location)
Thatcher, CO	La Junta, CO	9 July 2005	frame; modified to single story; east of town on US350 at Valley Trading Post

La Junta, CO	original location (1955)	9 July 2005	brick passenger Amtrak station; freight depot frame; WW Feeds
Cheraw, CO	La Junta, CO	9 July 2005	frame; remodeled and combined with McClave into a private residence
Marlman, CO	GPS	31 July 2005	103° 20' 52" W, 38° 5' 34" N, elev. 4043'
Las Animas, CO	original location (1908)	23 July 2005	brick passenger and frame freight depots
Fort Lyon, CO	La Junta, CO	9 July 2005	frame; remodeled private residence
Hasty, CO	across US 50 and three blocks east	27 August 2005	frame; remodeled, private residence?
Hasty, CO	GPS	27 August 2005	102° 57' 27" W, 38° 6' 50" N, elev. 3877'
McClave, CO	La Junta, CO	9 July 2005	frame; remodeled and combined with Cheraw into a private residence
McClave, CO	GPS	2 July 2005	102° 51' 1" W, 38° 8' 9" N, elev. 3876' (best estimate from photo location)
Pritchett, CO	Springfield, CO	2 April 2006	frame; one end sliced off, now on west side of US287/385
Wiley, CO	east of town, north on 4 Rd	2 July 2005	frame; heavily modified private residence
Wiley, CO	GPS	27 August 2005	102° 43' 12" W, 38° 9' 1" N, elev. 3738'
Lamar, CO	original location (1906)	14 May 2005	brick passenger depot; Colorado Welcome Center
Bristol, CO	GPS	2 July 2005	102° 18' 40" W, 38° 7' 19" N, elev. 3579'
Walsh, CO	Missouri St. south from tracks	2 April 2006	frame; seen better days, but mostly there, view of rear shown for reference
Holly, CO	original location (1912)	2 July 2005	brick; Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center; same plan as Fowler and Manzanola

Other Depots:

As best as I can determine, I show the railroad abbreviations in bold for the railroad(s) that built the depot. These may be similar to reporting marks, but are not exactly the same. This list is organized roughly geographically in three areas: Mountains, Front Range (North & South with Denver as the arbitrary dividing line), and Plains. With a few exceptions, the D&RGW falls out in Front Range South, the UP on the Plains, and the GWR in Front Range North. Photos are 2005 or 2006 unless noted otherwise. Built dates are given inside square brackets, e.g. [2006], when known/available. Estimates are given as a range of years, e.g. [2005-2006]. For DUS and PUD above, I have used the ground-breaking dates, and the 1914 date for DUS is for the expansion of the older (1880 and 1894 rebuilt) depot.

A.T.& S.F. Palmer Lake, CO, Depot:

Palmer Lake’s depot was reported as “missing” on the Santa Fe Surviving Depots: Colorado website, so I started out by checking with the Museum staff of the Palmer Lake Historical Society. As my photo at right atests, with a little detective work, I found this depot, and I consider the owner to be one of my best friends in the world. Links to these may be found at the top of this page.

Some history

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad reached Denver in 1887. Their railroad right-of-way meandered about along with the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad’s right-of-way between Denver and Pueblo. That same year saw construction of a 16’x32’ standard frame depot 6.5 miles (along the railroad) south of Palmer Lake at a place on the Santa Fe called Pring. Also that same year, a very well known (and photographed) depot was built at Palmer Lake. Some postcards of this depot almost give me the impression of a stone castle, perhaps due to its conic roofed tower. The “castle” depot was “retired” in 1938, and the Pring depot having been “retired” three years earlier, was moved to Palmer Lake for use as a joint-tenancy station with the Rio Grande (D&RGW).

The reason the depot was shared with the other railroad was due to the “joint-line” agreement that had been reached some twenty years earlier. The AT&SF and D&RGW actively cooperated sharing their two rail lines for purposes of better operations and efficiency of moving trains north-south. Palmer Lake sits at the Palmer Divide, the second highest pass on the AT&SF railroad in Colorado. It is a fairly narrow passage given that the town and the Lake for which it is named are situated here also.

The Palmer Lake depot of 1938 became quite unique on the Santa Fe system. While most depots have one bay window on the track side, the former Pring depot placed between the two tracks of the Colorado joint-line was modified to allow for a bay window on each side of the structure, as well as an additional freight door to the former backside of this new joint agency. Office space for both railroads was contained within, and it would serve in this capacity for another 30 years.

After the Santa Fe had closed the second Palmer Lake depot in 1968, they donated it to a local youth group in the town. But they did not have the resources to move it, which was a requirement to take permanent ownership. The only thing to do was sell it to someone who could have it moved. A Denver businessman bought it, and moved it onto his property up in the high mountain basin known as South Park, south of Jefferson, CO. And there it remains to this day.

Today Looking Back

The chalkboard time table (at right) still has the scheduled trains for the last day of live operation of this depot — March 31^st, 1968. This is the original chalk — the board was never cleaned off from that last day. Denver & Rio Grande Western train No. 1 South at 10:13AM was a flag stop, and No. 2 North at 1:47PM. Colorado & Southern (the Santa Fe’s partner) train No. 28 was also a flag stop headed North at 4:57PM, and train No. 29 South at 9PM that evening. Flag stops were intended that the passenger train need not stop unless they had to let a passenger(s) off at that station. This information was no doubt written by Agent Lou Nova.

The owner is restoring this depot, but has worked mainly on the interior. He did put a new roof on it since the main goal is to preserve the depot. He definitely recognizes the history he is caretaker over. I reinforced that showing him the much earlier (pre-1930’s) Mineral Brown (Red) paint from when the Depot was at Pring. That older color was exposed in one spot under several layers of Colonial Yellow paint, and perhaps some newer siding sublayers.

A.T.& S.F. Devine, CO, Depot:

At least I think this is the former Devine depot. I measured it to be 16’x40’, and the front three windows look like they could be the result of a chopped down, extended bay window for interlocking equipment. All the information on Devine seems to match the construction details of Avondale.

door within freight door at left, chopped bay window now 3 windows at right

I first found this depot on Canal Rd. after following the La Junta Municipal Railroad spur east from Hays Jct. to the Airport north of town. The spur jogs south around a Gravel Quarry, and the only way to follow that line on the south (without a Jeep and trespassing) is to go all the way back into town, into North La Junta. This was on June 30^th, 1991.

Fourteen years and one month later to the day, I happened across this depot again, doing exactly the same thing again. This time, I stopped and spoke with a lady who lived there, and got her permission to take these photos. She needed to check with a fellow that had worked on moving it there to find out where this depot originated, but she thought it might have been Avondale. I asked her to check. Her last e-mail said that her sister also kind of felt like it was Devine. I will update when I know more.

SE corner matches Avondale in Depots book by Pounds

After I got home from that excursion, I did a little searching for possible depots that matched, from the Kansas State Line, to Pueblo. I dug through photos in Santa Fe Depots — The Western Lines — by Robert E. Pounds. Note that the “in service” photo in that book is on page 21, in the early chapter on Depot Evolution.

On the line going from La Junta, to Pueblo, Avondale is the third station before Devine, only 6.2 miles away. The lady I had spoken to last year seemed to remember Avondale, which is a good general recollection that matches. And the Avondale depot now resides in Devine (see above). For those depots that were 16’x40’ floorplans, that had no dispositions that I knew of for them (moved, destroyed, etc.), and had photographs that I could compare construction details with, the list of most likely candidates was:

matches perspective of Devine photo in Depots book by Pounds

Timpas (retired 1954),
Hasty (retired 1959) [found 2005],
Devine (retired 1966).

There were other candidates, but some did not match architectural characteristics. For those without photos to compare, I had: Casa, Hartman, Kornman (which may be McClave), and Vroman. Until I decided to write this section of my web page you are now reading, I had forgotten about the “misplaced”* Devine photo in Pounds’ book. When I saw it again, I knew that the most likely match for this depot was Devine because of the same style of bay window that Avondale has (had). Of the three photos I had rated “good match”, hand’s down this depot’s best fit was Devine (no pun intended). The west side of Devine (see photo below, left) seems to match this depot. The spacing between the west side and the freight door (at right and also farthest above) has the proper proportion. The east end windows and the window and door on the south face, east corner (immediately above) are a perfect match for the photo of Avondale (page 84 in Pounds) allowing for the modifications to shorten one window (you can see a distortion pattern in the siding below that window in the photo at top, right). I do believe it is valid to compare Devine and Avondale since they appear to be nearly identical depots.

If I am right, I recovered three “lost” Santa Fe depots in 2005. One was Palmer Lake. I didn’t get confirmation of Hasty until 2006.

west end windows/eaves match Devine photo in Depots book by Pounds

*—by which I mean not in order along the rail lines with most of the other depots in this book.

A.T.& S.F. Hasty, CO, Depot:

Following my instincts, I had located a former Santa Fe section house in Bristol, CO while looking around (again) for any signs of the Bristol Depot. I found out the name of, and contacted, the man whose property is home to that section house. While speaking to him, he also gave me the name of a man who had retired from the Santa Fe with 47 years experience and as a construction foreman had some personal experience with Depots in and around the area of my interest and study — the Arkansas Valley. Asking Mr. Baca about Hasty, he confirmed a suspicion I had about about the present day whereabouts of the depot.

Hasty is a quaint little town on US 50 north of the dam for John Martin Reservoir and Caddoa on the mainline. It is still possible to find concrete footings on the north side of the highway for the Santa Fe Depot that served the Avee branch from 1917 to 1959. It was moved a few blocks east and to the south side of US 50, and converted into the foreman’s house, so it no longer matches the original configuration. Also note that this is the second Hasty depot. The first is noted below in the dispositions list.

I found this Hasty Depot in 2005, and thoroughly looked it over on more than one trip through town. The green paint that is fairly common on other depots in this region should have been enough evidence for me at the time to take some photos, but I did not. So that will have to wait for another trip to Hasty.

A.T.& S.F. Fountain, CO, Depot:

Almost as soon as I listed this depot on my newly added dispositions list (3 July 2006), I received an e-mail from Larry Green (5 July 2006) with a photo attached of the Fountain, Colorado depot, taken on the Fourth of July. You may view it as an 83KB download. Also please respect his copyright for this photo.

Fountain has somehow eluded the other well known Colorado Depot sites, but has apparently been common knowledge among Colorado Springs area Santa Fe enthusiasts for awhile. I will recheck, but I recently re-read the handout A Colorado Summer on the Joint Line, by Larry Green et al, which was given out at the SFMO 1992 convention at Colorado Springs, and I don’t recall seeing mention of this depot. Larry did tell me that it had been quite secluded behind much flora until its recent removal for some proximate digging.

Thank you Larry!

I took this photo on 22 July 2006. It is lower resolution (14KB).

A.T.& S.F. Amity, CO, Depot:

By the time Robert E. Pounds’ Depots book had gone to press, he had found no photo of the old (retired 1925) stone depot at Amity, Colorado. I found this photo (and I plan to get a better scan):

built 1905 20'x40' stone depot, retired 1925, placename retired 1938

A.T.& S.F. Grote, CO, Tower:

Robert E. Pounds tells us of the old system of Manual Block Towers that lasted into the 1930’s, two as late as 1935 and 1938. Some such as Grote are listed as “frame” block towers. I do not know of the difference between these two types. Many were retired in 1930. I bought a Real Picture Post Card (RPPC) of Grote, Colorado on eBay:

built 1906 12'x12' frame block tower, retired 1930

A.T.& S.F. Avondale, CO:

Company records apparently did not record the 16'x35' freight room extension that the Avondale depot had received by late 1973. Norm Metcalf photographed it on October 13^th. I measured the 35 foot extension using the photograph below at bottom. These additional angles on Avondale confirm my contention of the similarity between this depot and the one that was at Devine.

The copyrighted photos below are used with permission

built 1912 16'x40' frame #1 Main Line Standard depot, retired 1977
added 19?? 16'x35' freight frame extension, retired 1977

Photolocation/A.T.& S.F. Greenland, CO:

Photos often have additional clues in the background that help identify the location of a depot, sometimes very precisely. At the location I marked the GPS for Model, CO, I was completely confident that I found where the depot had been due to the alignment of trees and other buildings in the photo from Robert E. Pounds’ book. In fact I believe I stood in the exact position the photographer (Frank O. Kelley Collection) had.

One day, after having looked at the Sedalia, CO photo (same reference book), I realized that the water tank still situated at its original location was a dead give away to that GPS location. To date I have recorded five depot GPS locations in this manner.

Similarly, I had been looking at the photo of Greenland, CO (pg. 92) again and realized that the square “tower”-like structure (silo or water tank?) in the photo could be used to find where that depot had been located. If you look at the photo in Pounds' book you will see that my photo (above or left depending upon your screen resolution) is the reverse angle shot, i.e. had I been standing where I took my photo while the company photographer had been taking his, I would have been hidden behind that tall, square structure.

In my photo, the building at right with three garage doors is the same building at left in the Santa Fe photo. The railroad photo shows a tiny gap between the edge of that shed and the square tower, with the shed’s roof just barely protruding onto the side of the tower. This same gap is not visible in my photo above as an extension on the south side of the shed has been added since the Santa Fe photo was taken. Finally, note that the geometric proportions of the two faces of the square tower have been matched with that of the opposite two sides in the company photo.

Also useful in helping determine where everything happened, the low hill at right in the company photo established where the photographer stood, and therefore, where the depot must have been located. Today it is a thicket of brush and grasses, partially visible in the distant background to the left of the base of the square structure in my photo.

That rail in the foreground of my photo is joint-line, but it is a D&RGW (UP) segment, not Santa Fe (BNSF).

Greenland GPS (15 July 2006)/Photo (22 July 2006)

104° 51' 32" W, 39° 11' 15" N, elev. 6938'

U.P. Gilcrest?, CO:

I went to Pierce, Colorado on a mistaken lead that there was a frame UP depot that had been moved off-site. The Pierce depot had been moved off-site all right—to Greeley, and apparently somewhere again as it was only temporarily there on cinderblocks. But before I got that all straight, I had already dropped in on the sleepy little community of Pierce, Colorado to find a UP depot, and I did. Despite exterior modifications (new siding and roof at the least), this building still showed its heritage.

I quickly confirmed this with the present owner (since 1998), as well as the 1930 construction date I had. She also told me that another fellow had come by a year or two ago (I spoke with her on 7 Aug 2006) and had thought it was the UP Gilcrest, Colorado depot. I still have some more leads to follow up on so stay tuned ...

This is the second case of a double town depot swap I have found in Colorado. The Avondale depot now resides in the town of Devine, which resides elsewhere. Gilcrest (if our information is right) was moved to Pierce which was also moved elsewhere. If it is any help to anyone reading this in identifying this depot’s origin, it is a 1,000 square foot floorplan which would make it in the neighborhood of 20'x50'.

A.T.& S.F. Depots R.I.P.:

Searching for railroad depots, it is also useful to know which depots did not survive. For instance, you may have noticed that Hasty was on the candidate list for the depot that I think originated at Devine. Two Arkansas Valley (Avee) branch depots that I had not been able to find a disposition for were Bristol and Hartman. I now have confirmation that both were demolished, and not relocated or rebuilt. Here is my complete list of otherwise unaccounted for (to my knowledge), as well as confirmed demolished or burned, depots. The lefthand column lists the last known location for a depot originating in Colorado. A ø symbol following the Disposition means that the depot is known to have been replaced onsite or the original location has been checked for a depot. If relevant or available the retired date appears in the Notes column in parentheses:

Depot	Line	Disposition	ø	Previous Location(s)	Notes
Bristol	Avee branch	demolished	-	—	Baca
Hartman	Avee branch	demolished	-	—	Baca
Kornman	Avee branch	McClave?	ø	—	Pounds
Wiley	Avee branch	unknown	ø	—	24'x65' frame (1921), original 1908 depot
Amity	main line	unknown	ø	—	20'x40' stone (1925)
Bloom	main line	unknown		—	12'x24' non-std (1933)
Caddoa	main line	unknown	ø	Prowers; Marlman	16'x40' frame #1 (1953)
Casa	main line	unknown	ø	—	16'x40' frame #1 (1933), replaced by carbody from Ruxton or Frick
Delhi	main line	unknown	ø	—	16'x28' non-std (1954)
Deerfield, KS	main line	residence	-	Shelton, CO Avee	16'x40' frame #1
Earl	main line	unknown	ø	—	18'x36' frame 2-story (1929), replaced by carbody depot
El Moro	main line	unknown		—	9'x15' frame freight depot
Gallinas	main line	unknown		—	18'x36' frame 2-story (1935)
Granada	main line	demolished	-	—	Baca
Hadley	main line	unknown		—	13'x15' w/porch like Nyberg (1933)
Hoehne’s	main line	burned	-	—	16'x32' frame (1916), original 1887 depot
Holcomb, KS	main line	moving?	-	Hasty, CO Avee	16'x40' frame #1, original 1908 depot at Hasty
Holly	main line	unknown	ø	—	24'x62' frame (1912), original 1897 depot
Jansen	main line	unknown		—	18'x36' frame 2-story built from scrap (1952)
La Junta	main line	demolished	-	—	36'x212' stone (1955), Harvey House El Otero
Lamar	main line	demolished	-	—	freight depot Baca
Las Animas	main line	unknown	ø	—	24'x44' frame (1908), original 1876 depot
Morley	main line	unknown		—	16'x32' frame #1 (1957)
Starkville	main line	unknown		—	frame depot w/freight (1929), 12'x18' frame freight house (1954)
Timpas	main line	unknown	ø	—	16'x40' frame #1 (1954)
Timpas	main line	unknown	ø	—	18'x36' frame 2-story (1914), original 1882 depot
Trinidad	main line	unknown		—	24'x70' frame (1899), original 1878 depot
Trinidad	main line	destroyed	-	—	30'x100' stone (1904 flood), Harvey House The Cardenas
Trinidad	main line	unknown		—	30'x118' stucco (1960), 1904 depot
Tyrone	main line	unknown		—	12'x16' converted tool house (1957)
Wooton	main line	unknown		—	combination structure (1933), 12'x21' frame freight house (?)
Campo	Boise City line	unknown		—	16'x48' frame special (1953)
Springfield	Pritchett/Boise City lines	burned	-	—	per Ken Talbert, reported at Surviving Depots site
Cañon City	Cañon City branch	freight?	-	—	24'x80' frame (1914), original 1888 depot, see Notes
Taylor’s	Cañon City branch	moved	-	—	14'x38' frame to Larkspur in 1905
Denver	Denver line	unknown	ø	—	30'x44' frame 2-story, 30'x117' freight depot (1963), C&S Rice Yard
Devine	Denver line	North La Junta?	ø	—	16'x40' frame (1966)
Fountain	Denver line	moved	-	—	24'x42' frame w/16' freight addition (1953)
Fowler	Denver line	unknown		—	24'x60' frame (1913); original 1905 depot; moved to Boone?
Greenland	Denver line	unknown	ø	—	14'x39' frame (1935)
Henkel	Denver line	burned	-	Weitzer 1913, (Vroman)	12'x12' manual block tower (burned 1924)
Louviers	Denver line	demolished	ø	—	D&RGW ?'x?' frame, AT&SF joint agency, (1966) onsite 11/69
Monument	Denver line	unknown		—	24'x42' frame (1950)
Nepesta	Denver line	unknown		—	24'x42' (last) frame 2-story (1934) Baca - foundation was still there
Nyberg	Denver line	unknown		—	18'x15' frame w/porch (1934)
Pring	Denver line	moved	-	—	(1935), to Palmer Lake 1938
Rocky Ford	Denver line	unknown		—	24'x109' frame freight depot (1942); original 1887 depot
South Denver	Denver line	demolished	ø	—	12'x43' frame (1930-, company records 1955?), DR says ‘20s
South Denver	Denver line	demolished	ø	—	Interlocking Tower, AT&SF/C&S/D&RGW, DR says 1 Jan 1970
Swink	Denver line	unknown	ø	—	24'x60' frame like Boone (1967)
Vroman	Denver line	unknown		—	16'x54' frame (1940)
Minnequa	Minnequa branch	unknown		?	16'x44' frame (?), built 1897, not recorded onsite until 1903
Rockvale	Rockvale branch	unknown	ø	—	24'x32' frame 2-story, 24'x40' frame (1934)
Wilson, TX	Lamesa TX branch	residence	-	Manzanola, CO	24'x42' frame (1965); original 1897 depot at Manzanola moved 1915

Notes:

Take note

On the depot list above, for those depots still onsite (trackside or not, at original location), I have placed the year built in parentheses after the words “original location”. In the case of the Pueblo Union Depot (PUD), that year (1889) is bold for two reasons. 1) No date is given for this structure in Pounds’ book, and, 2) this is the oldest Santa Fe used station still onsite in Colorado (but see the Cañon City depot note below). I recorded the 1889 date from a date stone high up on the front of the depot. For Denver Union Station (DUS) and PUD, I have used the ground-breaking dates, and the 1914 date for DUS is for the expansion of the older (1880 and 1894 rebuilt) depot. They were each completed the following year.

The former freight depot in Cañon City still sits onsite at the west end of the old Santa Fe yard in town. The length and width of this freight house match the first Cañon City depot built in 1888 and retired in 1914 as listed in Pounds’ book. If the first Cañon City depot was not retired in 1914, but became the freight depot, it is the oldest Santa Fe onsite depot in Colorado edging out Pueblo Union Depot by just a year.

While the topic of the dispositions list is on depots, I have chosen not to track the smaller structures, such as carbody depots, or depots that may have been constructed from bunkhouses or other similar buildings (e.g. Husted). I have also omitted towers, except in the one Colorado case where we have a disposition for the one that was built at Weitzer (later Vroman) in 1906, moved to Henkel in 1913, and then burned down in 1924.

Several depots on the dispositions list might be confused with Depots with known dispositions on the depot list above. They have been noted as “original date depot” after the retirement date. A few are not the first, but still intermediate to the surviving depot, and omit the word “original”. They are: Cañon City, Fowler, Hoehne’s, Holcomb KS, Holly, Las Animas, Rocky Ford, Timpas, Trinidad (3), Wiley, and Wilson TX. Also the Denver joint agency with the Colorado & Southern was at Rice Yard, and should not be confused with the Denver Union Station.

Not really a depot note, except to say that there had been two carbodies at Frick, Colorado from 1937 until retired in 1965, but Mr. Baca pointed out to me that the elevation at Frick is a mile high, like that in Denver. This puts it a thousand feet or higher above the Arkansas Valley. He said that winter time there could get really bad. Frick is on the line south from Las Animas Junction to Boise City, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas.

Reference:

Buy or borrow

Santa Fe Depots

— The Western Lines —

by Robert E. Pounds

and

Denver’s Railroads

by Kenton Forrest and Charles Albi

An early reference in my Santa Fe Relic Hunting was an SFMO 1992 Tour Guide titled The Santa Fe in Colorado.

Also, Norm Metcalf has been a tremendous resource, as well as calling in favors from others, the likes of respected author F. Hol Wagner. I have bought many negatives from Norm, himself having photographed many of these depots years ahead of myself and others. (hint: buy Norm’s negatives/slides!)

Members of the yahoogroup Colorado-Railfan have been helpful too.

Other Colorado Depots Sites:

Links

Santa Fe Surviving Depots: Colorado, Evan Werkema’s comprehensive site
Colorado RR Structures, the Railroad Station Historical Society

Dedication:

J. P.

Last Update: 10 September 2006.

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