Galloping Goose Society to Restore Rare 1908 Narrow-Gauge Refrigerator Railcar

A donated railcar that spent more than a century moving perishables through the San Juan Mountains is coming home to Dolores. The Galloping Goose Historical Society announced plans to acquire, stabilize, restore and display Denver & Rio Grande Western refrigerator railcar No. 45, a 1908 narrow-gauge "reefer" currently sitting at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden.

Board member Kent Aikin said the project reaches beyond railroad history. "The railroad transformed society," Aikin said, describing an intent to use the car to tell the broader story of how rail infrastructure shaped Dolores County and the surrounding region.

Restoration of No. 45 will unfold in four stages: stabilizing the car at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, transporting it to Durango for the bulk of the restoration work, completing that restoration, and finally installing it on display outside the Galloping Goose museum in Flanders Park. The finished exhibit will include interpretive signage explaining the car's 1908 narrow-gauge design and its role carrying perishable goods. It will also feature a display of apple varieties chosen to reflect the region's orchard heritage, a direct nod to the cargo the reefer once carried through southwestern Colorado.

The refrigerator cars were used throughout the rail system, including the Rio Grande Southern, according to the Galloping Goose Historical Society. That connection ties No. 45 to the same network that gave rise to the society's central subject: the iconic Galloping Goose vehicles, home-built by Rio Grande Southern Railroad shops to keep freight and mail moving through rugged mountain terrain during the economic hardships of the early 20th century.

The donation of the railcar has formally launched the multi-phase preservation project, though board members have been pursuing it since 2019. The final price tag and completion date remain unresolved.

The Galloping Goose Historical Society operates out of a replica depot modeled on the original Rio Grande Southern station in Dolores. Its museum holds a restored Galloping Goose railcar, photographs, artifacts and interactive exhibits, with Galloping Goose No. 5 remaining fully operational. Railcar No. 45, once restored, would stand outside that museum as a companion piece anchoring the agricultural and commercial history that the rail lines made possible across Dolores County.