COMO ROUNDHOUSE: I-285 S at Boreas Pass Rd

Just minutes off of I-285 S at Boreas Pass Rd, you will find the not-really-there-anymore Como Roundhouse.

Once a repair shop for the Denver-South Park-Pacific narrow gauge Railroad, this 6 bay stone Roundhouse served the town of Como Colorado from 1881 to 1938.

There’s not much to see here now, but despite offering no picnic area or restroom, its worth a pause on your journey. This site has made it onto the National Register of Historic Places!  It’s a quick 10 minute stop.

The tracks leading from here carried people and goods to Denver via Kenosha Pass, to Leadville and Breckenridge via the Boreas Pass, and to Gunnison via South Park & the Alpine Tunnel.

By 1910, the town of Como and the Roundhouse had reached their peak, and the Roundhouse had been expanded to a 13 bay facility.  The Alpine Tunnel connecting Como with Gunnison by train caved-in that year, crippling the Railroad’s use of the area.

By 1918, the Roundhouse was down to just 3 bays, and in 1935 those bays burned to the ground.

The last train pulled out of Como taking up the wooden tracks behind it in 1938, and Como’s life as a railroad town was over.

All that survives of the Roundhouse today is it’s stone section, but work to restore the site began in 1985.  I can’t say that there’s much to see at this point, but it’ll be worth keeping an eye on in the future!

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