Colfax Railroad Museum receives support again for $900,000 grant application
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — “If at first you don’t succeed …”
The Colfax Village Board has approved another resolution supporting the Colfax Railroad Museum in the museum’s efforts to apply for a $900,000 Transportation Alternatives Program grant.
The Colfax Railroad Museum did not receive the TAP grant that had been applied for previously, so the museum is going to apply for the TAP grant again, said Herb Sakalaucks, curator of the Colfax Railroad Museum, at the Colfax Village Board’s September 25 meeting.
The grant would provide 80 percent federal funding with 20 percent in matching funds from the Colfax Railroad Museum.
The Village of Colfax would have no financial obligation related to the Colfax Railroad Museum receiving a Transportation Alternatives Program grant
The Colfax Village Board approved a resolution in support of the museum’s first grant application at the January 23, 2023, meeting.
The TAP grant is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
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.
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. The grant also would be used to build a roof over the steam engine, to do exterior restoration of ten train cars and some interior restoration with the goal of making the cars structurally sound. The project would include a solar array to provide power for the museum as well.
Grant application
The first grant application experienced some problems, one of which was that WisDOT “forgot” transportation museums are eligible for funding with a TAP grant, Sakalaucks said.
Another problem is that there were some conflicts of interest with the evaluators of the grant applications, such as a private organization evaluating grant applications for their own members, he said.
Since part of the Transportation Alternatives Program includes facilities for pedestrians and bicycles, the second grant application will include a rest area for bicyclists on the west end of depot with picnic tables and bike racks, Sakalaucks said.
The Dunn County Outdoor Recreation Plan shows the county’s bike trail coming into Colfax on the west side on county Highway BB, continuing east on Railroad Avenue — directly past the Colfax Railroad Museum — and then going north and south on county Highway M.
Sakalaucks said he had also contacted the offices of U.S. Representative Derrick Van Orden and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin about a federal earmark for the railroad museum.
The resolution approved by the Colfax Village Board will be used to show community support to WisDOT and for congressional support, he said.
Event center
The wooden depot on Main Street, in addition to containing a library of railroad materials, will serve as an events center, Sakalaucks said.
The wooden depot was built in 1898 on the site where the stone depot is now located on Railroad Avenue after a fire sparked by the train burned down the first depot that had been built in Colfax.
At the end of October, the first birthday party will be held at the Colfax Railroad Museum in the wooden depot, Sakalaucks said.
The Colfax Railroad Museum also is planning a Santa Claus Day in November, he said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved the resolution of support.
Voting in favor of the resolution were Jeff Prince, village president, and village trustees Clint Best, Margaret Burcham, Carey Davis, Anne Jenson, Jen Rud and Gary Stene.
