{"id":13090,"date":"2026-03-02T19:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T02:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/plans-underway-to-move-33-ton-rail-tracks-off-dolores-streets\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:34:55","slug":"plans-underway-to-move-33-ton-rail-tracks-off-dolores-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/plans-underway-to-move-33-ton-rail-tracks-off-dolores-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans underway to move 33\u2011ton rail tracks off Dolores streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rail
Rail loaded onto a trailer sits along Central Avenue in Dolores. The material, donated to the Galloping Goose Historical Society roughly two decades ago, is slated for relocation. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

After more than a year in place, about 33 tons of railroad materials are expected to be moved from two downtown streets in Dolores.<\/p>\n

The move comes after growing questions from the public about when the materials would be cleared, according to Town Manager Leigh Reeves.<\/p>\n

The town is finalizing a written lease agreement with the Galloping Goose Historical Society, which owns the tracks. The 33 tons include rail stacked on Sixth Street and loaded onto a trailer parked off Central Street.<\/p>\n

The rails are part of broader conversations about the small town\u2019s look and feel that are underway as officials put together a 20\u2011year comprehensive plan.<\/p>\n

When and how the tracks will be moved is still being determined. The timing depends largely on weather and completion of an existing labor contract.<\/p>\n

Galloping Goose board member Kent Aikin said the museum is committed to relocating the steel to Dolores\u2019 green waste site. He said he hopes to ease the burden on the town.<\/p>\n

\"The
The materials are a part of a larger donation already moved to the landfill. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Stacks
Stacks of railroad rail on Sixth Street in Dolores. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He described town officials as \u201cgracious\u201d for allowing the heavy material to remain there for about 18 months and said the tracks could be donated to a new rail restoration project in eastern Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen Vance has been under contract to get the rail moved, and the Galloping Goose Historical Society understands the urgency of getting the rail off the street and intends to see it happen,\u201d Aikin said, and said the town is not responsible for relocating the materials.<\/p>\n

Reeves said the materials have prompted questions from residents and were raised during a recent Planning and Zoning meeting. The school district has also inquired a few times about when the rails would be moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of pressure,\u201d Reeves said. \u201cEspecially for the school, people park over there on the south side of Central.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rails were donated to the Galloping Goose Historical Society about 20 years ago from the U.S. Army Pueblo Army Depot when it was being decommissioned in 2004. The society, a 501(c)(3) organization, preserves the history of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, as well as the Galloping Goose No. 5 rail car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not unusual for historic organizations, such as ours, to trade things with other similar organizations from time to time to enhance the collection or to help out another organization,\u201d Aikin said.<\/p>\n

After the donation, the rails were stored on private property in Dolores. When ownership of that land changed, they needed to be moved. The town allowed the museum to store most of the rail at the old green waste landfill, and most has already been relocated under the contract with Vance. Mud and snow have recently delayed some movement to the landfill.<\/p>\n

A portion of the rail has been incorporated into features at the Dolores Bike and Skate Park, which broke ground last fall.<\/p>\n

awatson@the\u2011journal.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

sat along Central and Sixth streets for about 18 months<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44,174,28,29,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores","tag-environmental-cleanup","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13090"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18806,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13090\/revisions\/18806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13090"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}