Amador County – The Amador Cannonball railroad train replica has reached its believed last stop, along the Animas River, south of Durango, Colorado, after a 960-mile trek via truck, and after a legal challenge and ruling in local court.

The movie prop, which has had several names in different movies, arrived in Durango where it was placed on a short piece of narrow gauge track under a pole barn constructed specifically for the engine and replica fuel car, according to the Farmington, New Mexico Daily Times’ online Nov. 7 edition.

Chuck Slothower of the Times wrote that the replica of the Rio Grande Southern locomotive used in the 1950 film “A Ticket to Tomahawk” arrived by truck on Nov. 4. The engine replica was painted as the Emma Sweeney in the film, as a replica of the Rio Grande Southern No. 20 locomotive. He wrote that the “locomotive replica’s return was engineered by the Durango Railroad Historical Society, a small non-profit group that promises to restore it.”

He said the wooden train, refurbished by the Mule Creek State Prison community, is housed in a pavilion at Santa Rita Park, a park owned by the city of Durango, on Highway 160, south of Durango, along the Animas River.

The train was subject of a suit in Amador County in which a former co-owner, John Queirolo, sought a restraining order on the Amador County Supervisors to stop the train from leaving county possession, and its place of rest for 31 years on the Amador County Museum grounds.

Queirolo said he was not allowed by the Amador Superior Court Judge to represent the former owners, whom he said conditionally donated the train, on condition that it not leave Amador County. He could not produce ownership documents of the train, and a temporary restraining order was lifted, allowing the train to leave.

Durango Railroad Historical Society said the replica was returning home, so to speak, after 60 years, since making “Ticket to Tomahawk,” which featured Marilyn Monroe in a bit part.

The Railroad Society donated $5,000 to the Amador County Museum in exchange for the donation to them of the train, by Amador County Supervisors. Part of the agreement was a good-faith effort to find mining or other artifacts, related to the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek, which the Society could donate back to Amador County.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.