Colfax Railroad Museum receives support from village board for $900,000 grant application
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has approved a resolution supporting the Colfax Railroad Museum in the museum’s efforts to apply for a $900,000 Transportation Alternatives Grant.
The grant application is due March 23, and the grant is 80 percent federal funding with 20 percent in matching funds from the Colfax Railroad Museum, said Herb Sakalaucks, curator of the Colfax Railroad Museum, at the Colfax Village Board’s January 23 meeting.
The Village of Colfax will not be responsible for any of the matching funds, and the museum is working on ways to match the funds with in-kind contributions, he said.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has been working closely with representatives of the Colfax Railroad Museum on the grant application, and Sakalaucks said he has been told to submit the grant application earlier than the deadline so the application can be reviewed, and Sakalaucks can then supplement with additional information, if necessary, before the grant deadline.
Part of the application process is to receive letters of support for the Colfax Railroad Museum from the Colfax Village Board, from Dunn County, and from the state senators and representatives in this area, Sakalaucks said.
Decisions on which entities will receive grant funds will be made in June, and from June through the end of September, those entities receiving grants will be working on submitting the paperwork to the Federal Highway Administration, he said.
In recent years, WisDOT has not reached its goals for the Transportation Alternatives Program, and that is one of the reasons why WisDOT representatives have been working closely with the Colfax Railroad Museum, Sakalaucks said.
The Transportation Alternatives Program covers smaller transportation projects such as facilities for pedestrians and bicycles, Safe Routes to School projects, recreational trails and community improvement projects such as historic preservation, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s website.
Rolling stock
The grant would be used to build a pole building structure open on three sides with a wall in the back to cover all of the Colfax Railroad Museum’s rolling stock, Sakalaucks said.
The project also would build a roof over the steam engine, he noted.
Grant money would be used to do exterior restoration of 10 train cars and some interior restoration with the goal of making the cars structurally sound, Sakalaucks said.
In addition, the project would include a solar array to provide power for the museum, he said.
Over the past two years, the Colfax Railroad Museum has had a number of history department interns who are students at UW-Eau Claire. The railroad museum provides “real world” experience for the interns, and in turn, the interns have helped the railroad museum on many different projects, Sakalaucks said.
One of the projects has been cataloging, placing and displaying thousands of pieces of information related to railroad history (books, magazines and other periodicals, and train blueprints, for example).
Sakalaucks said he is currently working with UW-Stout on getting interns in graphic design and construction.
The interns have been “the best workers,” he said.
Anne Jenson, village trustee, asked the distance between the street and the roof structure.
The roof will extend eighteen and twenty-four inches from the cars and be about 15 feet from the road, Sakalaucks said.
Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, said it would be important to check the village’s ordinances pertaining to setbacks.
Walkways will be added under the structure, and a security camera system will be installed as part of the project, Sakalaucks said.
The wooden depot on Main Street has had security cameras since last fall, and the cameras cover the tracks and buildings and some of the street, he said.
Support
Niggemann said she had called WisDOT to make sure the village would not be in any jeopardy for funding the matching grant and said she had been assured the village would have no financial obligations.
The village only needs to show support and to want the project to be successful, she said.
Letters and resolutions of support will help the Colfax Railroad Museum to score better in the grant application process, Niggemann said.
The resolution shows the Village of Colfax’s support and includes wording that states Colfax will have no expense for the railroad museum’s projects or matching funds for the grant, she said.
The Colfax Village Board voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
Voting in favor were Village President Jody Albricht and Village Trustees Margaret Burcham, Carey Davis, Anne Jenson, Jeff Prince and Jen Rud.
Village Trustee Gary Stene was absent from the meeting.
The Transportation Alternatives Grant is “the great grandson” of the original grant program that helped start the Colfax Railroad Museum. The difference now is that Colfax is not a sponsor and has no financial obligation, Sakalaucks said.
The Colfax Railroad Museum started in 1992.