Colorado Railroad Museum
Robert W. Richardson Railroad Library
17155 W. 44th Avenue
Golden Colorado 80403
Submitter: Pat Bishop
I’ve been searching for a long time of any mention, in any accident report, document, notation, etc. of where my great, great grandfather died in 1870. The family history was that he had been hit and killed in a train accident somewhere in Kansas. I’ve always wondered if there are accident reports out there from that time period and where they might be.
In my search, I came across the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO. I noticed on their website the Robert W. Richardson Railroad Library is part of this museum. http://www.coloradorailroadmuseum.org/library
I took a little trip over there to see what it was all about. Railroad buffs visiting this museum will think they’ve died and gone to heaven. What a fun and interesting museum!
I visited with the Library Archivist, Ken Forrest. He was gracious and showed me around their stacks and explained the primary source documents they have. The collection includes histories, photo histories, atlases, corporate histories, biographies, reference books and some employee records.
The library includes information and documents about the Colorado Southern, Denver & Rio Grand Western, Union Pacific, Denver Tramway railroads. The Denver Union Terminal and Railway Co. owned the Union Station in Denver.
There are employee records housed here listed in the Seniority Lists book. Unfortunately those books are not indexed, but persistence could pay off if you are looking for an ancestor who worked for any of the railroads mentioned.
These books list the start date of employment for those who trained as Brakemen, then moved on to be Conductors. Firemen moved on to become Engineers. Here is a list of the names on one page of one of the many books. Maybe you’ll get lucky and see your ancestor’s name.
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Names |
Entered Service |
Names |
Entered Service |
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Zolper, J.P. Young, V.L Tower, K.K Long, W.E Joerger, P.R Kalemanoff, A.N. Joerger, R. A Glaser, F.P. Lehnert, A Glydewell, L. E. Pratt, H. Jones, H. B. Kennedy, R. T. Camper, T.E. Henness, F. C. Braungardt, R. D. Kenyon, G Lowe, D. A. Leifheit, G. H. Vance, L. W. Fox, J. F. |
5-1-56 5-1-56 5-1-56 5-1-56 5-1-56 5-1-56 5-1-56 5-1-56 5-23-56 5-23-56 5-28-56 5-28-56 6-3-56 6-12-56 7-1- 56 8-2-56 8-8-56 8-17-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 |
Sheffler, M. E. Minner, D. M. Sanders, J. E. Graves, E. G. Hoof, C.E. Mayberry, R. J. Zink, E. L. Pilcher, H. W. Hoaglund, C. A. Charles, R. R. Colwell, D. F. Dixon, R. C. Clark, J. Z. Malone, J. D. Benson, M. L. Benson, M. L. Horstman, W. O. Stoltz, K. T. Eshelman, V. L. Fredres, R. Pokorny, E. Herring, R.L. |
10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 10-15-56 11-7-56 4-18-57 4-18-57 4-20-57 4-22-57 4-25-57 4-25-57 5-18-57 6-12-57 6-27-57 7-2-57 8-27-57 8-27-57 9-1-57 |
As far as finding an accident report, Ken said that most records of accidents were of major accidents and even then, if the cause was evident, there may not have been an accident report. He did mention some lucky genealogists who visited the library a few weeks ago and found mention of their ancestor in a primary record. The time period was around the 1870’s. That doesn’t happen often. Looking for an ancestor is similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. Records are kept in the lower level. A volunteer will assist you if you have fairly specific information of what and who you are looking for. That volunteer will then go down to the storage and find the document. A visitor is not permitted in the document storage area.
There are book stacks you are welcome to look through, however, this being a Reference Library, none can be checked out. I did find mention of my Uncle in Who’s Who in Railroad. He was VP of Transportation for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in California. That was fun.
All in all, it was a nice experience, the people were friendly and there were some very hard working volunteers in there cataloging the collections they receive from donors.
Even if you don’t have ancestors who worked for the railroads, it is a great place to visit. Volunteers are the backbone of the conservation projects that keep the 100 pieces of train equipment in good condition.
A Dedicated Volunteer
I make vintage style hand cut wooden jigsaw puzzles. Here's one I made of the old engines on the Georgetown Loop in Colorado.
I use 1/4 inch Finland Birch. The puzzle trays are great for working a puzzle when relaxing on a train ride. The tray keeps the pieces in place. If you are interested in having a vintage style wood jigsaw puzzle made for your collection, just contact me at psb43@earthlink.net
