How do I get tickets to Galloping Goose Historical Society?

Tickets and current schedules are available on the operator's official website at http://www.gallopinggoose5.org.

Photo by Russell Lee, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Galloping Goose Historical Society

DOLORES, CO

4.8· 32 Google reviews

Upcoming Events

No ticketed events are currently listed for Galloping Goose Historical Society. Many heritage operators publish schedules seasonally or run on regular open hours instead of dated events.

Check the operator’s website for current hours and special runs, or subscribe to event alerts and we’ll email you when something is scheduled.

About Galloping Goose Historical Society

Operates Galloping Goose No. 5 (Rio Grande Southern motor car) at Dolores museum and at partner heritage railroads.

📍 DOLORES, CO 81323

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History

The society in Dolores preserves Galloping Goose No. 5, one of seven railcars — officially called "motors" — that the narrow-gauge Rio Grande Southern Railroad built in its Ridgway, Colorado shops during the 1930s. The perpetually struggling RGS devised the geese to keep its Rocky Mountain mail contract when steam-train service had become too costly; the first proved so economical it paid for itself within weeks. In 1945 No. 5 was rebuilt with a Wayne bus body for better passenger seating and soon received a war-surplus GMC engine, and in 1950, after the railroad lost its mail contract, it was among the geese converted for tourist runs, with large windows cut into the freight compartment — the first time the railroad officially embraced the "Galloping Goose" name. The RGS abandoned its line in 1952, and No. 5 was eventually bought by the city of Dolores. Restored in 1998, the motor still runs periodically on the Cumbres & Toltec, the Durango & Silverton, and at the Colorado Railroad Museum, and was popularized along with local landmarks in C. W. McCall's song "Gallopin' Goose".

The Trains

The centerpiece is Galloping Goose No. 5, a Rio Grande Southern motor built in the railroad's Ridgway shops. Like its sisters Nos. 3, 4, and 7, it rides on three trucks, articulated like a tractor-trailer with a powered second truck and a boxcar-style freight compartment; its original Pierce-Arrow automobile body gave way to a Wayne bus body in the 1945 rebuild, followed by a surplus GMC engine. The car wears the silver scheme the geese have carried since 1935. Now owned by the city of Dolores and kept operational since its 1998 restoration, No. 5 operates from time to time on the Cumbres & Toltec and Durango & Silverton tourist railroads and at the Colorado Railroad Museum, in addition to appearances at its home museum.