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Train buffs look for stolen Smokebox door

Smokebox door went missing in park
The door of the smokebox on the Emma Sweeney, a replica of an 1899 Rio Grande Southern Railroad steam locomotive, has gone missing.

The door of the smokebox on the Emma Sweeney, a replica of an 1899 Rio Grande Southern Railroad steam locomotive, has been stolen, and railroad buffs would like it to be returned.

The wooden door, about 39 inches in diameter, was inside a fence in Santa Rita Park where members of the Durango Railroad Historical Society are touching up the engine, said society president George Niederauer.

There will no questions asked, Niederauer said.

“We’re not interested in prosecuting anyone,” Niederauer said. “We just want the door back.”

Niederauer said the smokebox door has historical value, but little monetary worth.

The door, which weighs about 60 pounds, went missing sometime between Sept. 14 and Tuesday, Niederauer said.

The Emma Sweeney replica was built in 1949 for a role in the 20th Century Fox movie, “A Ticket to Tomahawk,” which was filmed from Durango to Silverton.

The original Emma Sweeney, owned by the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, is being worked on in Strasberg, Pennsylvania.

daler@durangoherald.com



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