By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — To say it has been a work in progress might be an understatement, but the permit has finally been approved by the state of Wisconsin for the miniature train ride at the Colfax Railroad Museum.
The museum is planning to hold a grand opening for the miniature train ride June 17 to June 20, to coincide with the Colfax Free Fair, said Herb Sakalaucks, curator of the Colfax Railroad Museum.
Sakalaucks had hoped to have the miniature train ride up and running and approved long before this, but the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the process.
The death of Scott Kingzett from COVID-19 last November also has not helped.
Kingzett, a former Marine and a retired firefighter who lived in Menomonie, was the senior tour guide at the museum and Sakalaucks’ “right hand man” when it came to doing any kind of projects at the museum.
Soo Park
The miniature train ride is located east of the wooden depot on Main Street in what is known as Soo Park.
The Colfax Village Board agreed to sell the Soo Park parcel to the Colfax Railroad Museum, a 501.(c)3 non-profit organization, as a location for the train ride in the summer of 2018.
Approximately 30 volunteers from the 3M Company, organized through the Dunn County United Way, worked on laying ballast in the railroad bed for the miniature train ride in September of 2018.
The Soo Park property was donated to the village more than one hundred years ago for use as a park, but for whatever reason, the parcel was never properly deeded to the village until just a few years ago.
Because the property was never properly deeded, it was never developed and it was never zoned.
Also in September of 2018, the Colfax Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on the zoning and recommended zoning the parcel as “commercial” so the railroad museum could install the miniature train ride.
The Colfax Village Board subsequently approved Business 2 zoning for the Soo Park parcel.
The Colfax Railroad Museum acquired the 7.5 inch gauge miniature train ride in 2017 and received a $2,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Dunn County to help defray the cost of installing the miniature train ride.
Depots
A small F-1 tornado touched down in Colfax at the end of June in 2014, and part of the damage caused by the tornado included a section of roof on the wooden depot on Main Street directly south of the railroad tracks.
The Colfax Railroad Museum subsequently acquired the wooden depot, so the museum now owns two of the three train depots that have been in Colfax.
The first depot in Colfax burned down in late August of 1898, and the wooden depot located on Main Street was built in the fall of 1898 on the site where the stone depot is now situated.
When the stone depot was built about 15 years later, the wooden depot was moved to its present location.
The fire that destroyed the original depot also almost burned down the rest of the village of Colfax.
The near-miss on losing the town inspired village officials to install water lines on Main Street for a fire suppression system in November of 1898.
Grand opening
“We hope to see you there for the grand opening of the train ride,” Sakalaucks said.
Parking is available by the wooden depot on Main Street.
Tour guides also will be available to give tours of the museum.
The stone depot at the museum on Railroad Avenue houses a large collection of dining car China, lanterns and other railroad memorabilia as well as a gift shop.
Volunteers and interns from UW-Eau Claire are currently working on the wooden depot, which will house a railroad library of materials the Colfax Railroad Museum has collected over the years.
