Save the Great Western Depots update (February 2025)

Loveland’s Great Western Railway Depots are Moved at Last!

Our beloved depots project has finally reached the first milestone event that we’ve been working up to for the last 12 years! A profound Thank You goes out to all LHS members who have helped with money, time, frustration, and tears, and to the City of Loveland’s multiple departments who recognize and support the historical importance of these buildings. They are now close to their permanent location on city property. A small Bobcat pulled them about 50’ straight south, using heavy duty rollers on steel beams. The crowd of about 20 found it was an amazing operation to watch!

LHS’s Save the Great Western Depots Committee will donate $64,500 to the City of Loveland for the move, hazmat mitigation, and for a new foundation for the passenger depot. The small freight depot will remain on its stilts. The foundation will be located a few feet north of where the passenger depot now sits, and later it will be settled down on it. The final restoration will be discussed by LHS, Loveland Historic Preservation Commission, and the Loveland Police Department, because it is now under that department’s purview, and they will incorporate the depots into their preliminary site plan. The committee will continue fundraising for Phase Two, which could take another 3-5 years, for the move to a new foundation, for site plans and permits, landscaping, and ultimately, for restoration for the public’s enjoyment.

Members of the Save the Great Western Depots Committee, celebrating the move!

And we will continue to sell commemorative bricks. We will put in an order this month for the bricks that have already been purchased, including duplicate bricks that donors will keep, and brick sales will then continue until we have enough to put in another order. Bricks will be incorporated into the landscaping around the site.

We also envision a possible static permanent display with a piece of rolling stock on a short track, maybe a dinky, a caboose, or (Hope against hope!) the old GW Combo car now at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden.

To make a difference, please buy your commemorative brick to support the depots!

Order on line: Thatsmybrick.com/Lovelandhist

OR to help the cause, donate on our Facebook page

OR on the website through PayPal: lovelandhistorical.org

OR send a check to P.O. Box 7311, Loveland, 80539, Memo: Depots

Volunteers please contact: sadanhau@gmail.com or suttop2@yahoo.com