Ridgway, Colorado, long known as the birthplace of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, is the home of a museum dedicated to the preservation of the history of railroading in Ouray County and surrounding areas.

The Ridgway Railroad Museum is a non-profit, member supported organization whose mission is to explain and interpret the role and significance of railroads in the history of this region by use of exhibits, a reference library, educational programs, publications and sharing information with historical and modeling groups.

The Museum will preserve railroad equipment, artifacts, historical data, books and photographs of Ouray County and the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. For a brief history of the museum click here.

The Museum is planning a full schedule of events for 2009. We will be posting the schedule as it develops. For further information, click on the Event Calendar button to the left. For a membership application, or information on other topics, click on the appropriate button to the left.

The Museum, located at the junction of U.S. Highway 550 and Colorado State Highway 62 in Ridgway, Colorado, is open every day during the summer months (June 1 through September 30th) from 9 am to 4 pm. During the winter months (October 1st through May 31st) the Museum is open M-F 10 am to 3 pm. There is no charge to visit the museum but we do accept donations.

In addition, the summer months find Museum members working outside on restoration projects on our collection of rolling stock. Workdays occur on both weekdays and weekends. Do carpentry and painting while working on your tan.

The Ridgway Railroad Museum is a non-profit 501(C)3 corporation. If you are interested in participating in any of our projects in any way, please click here.

If you are planning on visiting the museum and need lodging and restaurant information please visit our lodging page

The Museum has just published a new book entitled Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle. See Details

We have begun to list all of our archival material on an Excel spread sheet. See the Archival Material page for details.

RGS Galloping Goose moved to Ridgway Railroad Museum for Restoration! See Details.

Rides on the Museum's re-creation of Motor #1 are now available.
See Event Calendar for details.

You can now pay your membership dues or make a donation using PayPal. See Membership page for details.

Motor #1 at Railfest 2000

Narrow Gauge Cars at the Ridgway Railroad Museum