Galloping Goose Historical Society

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".