The master redeveloper of Denver’s Union Station, expected to be named this fall, might know how to build homes, offices, restaurants and shops around mass-transit lines. But what will it know about model trains?
Since 1935, the Denver Society of Model Railroaders has operated a 6,100-square-foot layout of the “Colorado Midland Railway” in Union Station’s basement.
The exhibit’s fate is uncertain.
The planned redevelopment of the station and 15 acres of surrounding land is likely to top $800 million and take more than 20 years to complete. There’s a chance the model railroad will be booted to make way for renovations, society president John Hasche said.
“Absolutely we’re concerned, but until we see definite plans or concepts, there’s not much we can do about it,” he said. “To be honest, there is no place that we can think of that would work for us as well as Union Station does.”
The station’s owner, the Regional Transportation District, likes having the railway but can’t promise it will get to keep its space, said Marcia Fraley, an RTD property manager.
“The basement isn’t exactly marketable, and the society performs a service by opening to the public free of charge,” she said. “We think they’re great, but we’re operating on short- term lease agreements in the whole building because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The society landed space in the historic station after some of its early members worked to remove mud and silt left from a basement flood, Hasche said. It has paid a token rent since.
RTD leases office space on the station’s upper floors for between $15 and $20 a square foot. It charges the society $100 a year.
The miniature railway is bigger than an NBA basketball court. It is named for a rail system that operated in the early 1900s between Colorado Springs and Grand Junction. And it is considered the oldest, and one of the largest, model railroads in the country that uses the “O Scale” – meaning one-fourth of an inch corresponds to 1 foot.
The society closes its model railroad to the public for the summer and is expected to reopen it in September.
Staff writer Christine Tatum can be reached at 303-820-1015 or ctatum@denverpost.com.
