DENVER — A fire Monday has gutted the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Burnham Shops coach building.
The Denver Fire Department reports it responded “an abandoned warehouse fire” early Monday. The building was fully involved by the time firefighters arrived. No injuries were reported and the cause is under investigation.
The building had been unoccupied since February 2016, when Union Pacific closed the shop complex [see “Denver’s Burnham Shops closing …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 11, 2016]. The property was sold in June to the Colorado Department of Transportation, which plans to use some of the land for an expansion of Interstate 25 and some for the Regional Transportation District light rail system [see “Digest: Deal appears to be in place …,” News Wire, May 28, 2021].
The coach shop was the oldest remaining building at the shop complex, built in 1901 but believed to have incorporated parts of a structure built in 1881 or 1885. The L-shaped one-story brick structure was once used to house Rio Grande’s ski train.
