At Como, Colorado, three surviving buildings put the workings of a mountain railroad within walking distance of one another. A depot handled passengers and station business, a hotel served travelers, and a stone roundhouse sheltered locomotives. Together they formed part of a Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad complex. Their proximity shows how a train stop could develop into a community with its own services, workforce and rhythm.
The roundhouse is the industrial counterpoint to the depot. Its stalls face the area where locomotives could be turned and directed toward a particular bay. That arrangement solved a practical problem in a compact space. Steam locomotives needed a place where crews could inspect and work on them between assignments. In a high mountain environment, sheltered work space mattered to the people maintaining equipment as much as it did to the machines.
Rail traffic continued under the Colorado & Southern. The South Park Rail Society dates the last train out of town to 1939, after which the depot deteriorated. The building later became the site of Colorado Preservation’s first Endangered Places Weekend Workshop. Volunteers spent four days stabilizing it. Subsequent restoration and museum development involved the depot owner and railway preservation organizations, recovering a building that had spent decades without its original purpose.
The depot and roundhouse also help explain the railway geography beyond Como. Park County identifies a surviving section house site at Boreas Pass, where railroad workers and their families lived at more than 11,000 feet. The pass and Como represent different parts of the same system. One tells the story of maintaining the route in the mountains, while the other shows the concentration of transport and servicing functions in town.
On a visit, compare the arrangement of the three buildings and follow the outline of the old railway property. Museum and event access depend on the preservation organizations’ current arrangements, so check their calendar if you want to enter particular buildings.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in Colorado
- Colorado Railroad Museum — Golden: Major railroad museum
- Durango and Silverton Railroad Museum — Durango: Railroad museum at an operating railway
- Forney Museum of Transportation — Denver: Transportation museum with railroad collection
- Galloping Goose Historical Society Museum — Dolores: Railroad museum and historic rail-motor vehicle
- Georgetown Loop Mining and Railroad Park — Silver Plume: Operating railroad historic park
- Moffat Road Railroad Museum — Granby: Railroad museum and full-size equipment display
- Ridgway Railroad Museum — Ridgway: Narrow-gauge railroad museum and restoration collection
- All 8 railroad museums and sites in Colorado
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Mountain West — the trains you can ride in the region