This rendering by Dave Naples and Terry Barnhart represents their vision of what the completed museum complex will look like by the summer of 2023.
man is a noted philanthropist and soon became a significant patron of the museum, allowing the site to blossom with a master plan for construction and renovations through 2023. The museum now employs 10 individuals, including five carpenters working on restorations. The museum’s marketing director, Diane Ehlert, a Winter Park consultant who specializes in helping nonprofits, noted the anonymous benefactor “is very passionate about the project.” Museum board members Wally and Susie Baird explained that the mission of the project is to “provide Grand County residents and visitors significant opportunities to learn about the history of railroading in the area.” They said visitors have come from across Colorado; from 45 states of the U.S.; and from countries such as Great Britain, Switzerland and France. Wally Baird said visitors often ask questions such as: How far did the railroad go? How did they get over the mountain? When and how did they build the tunnel? What happened to the Moffat Railroad after David Moffat died? “It is about preserving what the Moffat Road Railroad meant to Grand County,”
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COLOR ADO COUNTRY LIFE DECEMBER 2021
“There is a broad interest in what we are doing here. It’s not just a model train display; it is preserving the history of the railroad.” — Wally Baird said Wally Baird, a retired town manager for Granby who remembers playing with a Lionel model train with his two brothers during elementary school . “There is a broad interest in what we are doing here. It’s not just a model train display; it is preserving the history of the railroad.” Naples explained that the museum collection focuses on four railroad companies — Denver, Northwestern & Pacific; Denver & Salt Lake; Denver & Rio Grande; and Union Pacific — that traveled the Moffat Road Railroad, which eventually reached the mainline from Denver to Salt Lake City. Naples took a visitor to lunch at a grill in downtown Granby, zipping speedily around town in a bright red Ranger UTV. Over meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy, Naples talked more about his broad
background with past jobs ranging from Christian camp counselor (he earned a Master of Divinity degree) to ski area chef to landscape company owner. His current side gigs include piano tuner and member of an Irish band where he plays piano, guitar, and Irish Bodhran drums and sings. “I’m a Moffat man,” Naples said, which means he’s a railroad enthusiast who loves the interesting engineering feat and history of the Moffat Road Railroad that follows a geographically difficult path. The museum name comes from the route called Moffat Road, also known as the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway Hill Route, that was constructed beginning in 1904. Susie Baird explained that the Moffat Road Railroad is famous as the highest standard gauge railroad ever built in the U.S., running through many tunnels and crossing the Continental Divide, cresting at Rollins Pass at 11,660 feet east of Winter Park. The high-elevation, 23-mile section of railroad served for 24 years before the Moffat Tunnel was completed in 1928. The 6.2-mile Moffat Tunnel, built for rail and water lines, is three times longer than the current Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70.