September 2025. After Oscar came to London in June 2024 and I joined him there for a day, I’m now going to his hometown of Denver in Colorado. My second trip to the United States in 2025, after visiting my uncle and aunt in Wilmington, North Carolina. No, Denver is is not on foreign tourists’ mind when travelling to the US. But that doesn’t bother me. Quite the contrary.
When researching what to in Denver, I came across the Forney Transportation Museum. I thought it would be something to do when Oscar is working. But it turned out he was interested as well. And luckily, we visited on Sunday 7 September 2025, because the day after, the museum closed for renovations.
Presentation
The Forney Transportation Museum was established in 1955. It is named after J.D. Forney, the founder of Forney Industries, Inc., based in Fort Collins. Originally focused on antique automobiles, the museum gradually broadened its scope to include a wide range of transport modes. Today, its slogan, ‘Anything on Wheels’ reflects a collection of around 800 exhibits.
Among the highlights are Amelia Earhart’s ‘Gold Bug‘ Kissel, a Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive (No. 4005), and a Chicago and Northwestern Class R-1 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler (No. 444), the only surviving C&NW steam engine converted to oil.
The museum also displays a Forney locomotive—Cora-Texas Plantation Co. 0-4-4T No. 1—designed by Matthias N. Forney, a second cousin of J.D. Forney.
Other notable pieces include a Union Pacific rotary snowplow (No. 900099), a Denver and Rio Grande Western GP30 diesel locomotive (No. 3006), and Henschel 0-4-0T locomotive NR-7, which was originally used by a Danish construction contractor.
The museum’s origins lie in J.D. Forney’s growing interest in antique cars after his family presented him with a 1921 Kissel Tourister, the same model he had once used to court his wife, Rae.
Forney Industries itself became best known for producing electric welders and welding supplies, though it also manufactured items such as the Fornaire F-1 Aircoupe, a central vacuum system, portable vacuum cleaners, auto generators, and battery chargers.
Old cars and carriages were sometimes taken in as trades for welding equipment, eventually forming the basis of the museum. Initially located in Fort Collins, the collection moved to Denver, where it was housed in the former Denver Tramway Powerhouse, now an REI store. In 1964, the museum was officially recognised as a non-profit organisation.
The museum’s locomotive collection includes the Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4005, built in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company. Of the 25 Big Boys produced, only eight survive, with No. 4005 notable for a brief conversion to oil firing and its involvement in a fatal accident in 1953.
The Forney locomotive on display, built in 1897 by Porter in Pittsburgh, represents a type once common on American elevated railways, known as ‘Little Giants‘ for their widespread use in hauling both passengers and freight.
The Chicago and Northwestern Ten Wheeler No. 444, built in 1906 and converted to oil in 1925, later served as a switcher before being retired in 1956. It was preserved and moved to South Dakota before being relocated to Denver in 1968, where it remains on display.
Other pieces include Union Pacific Rotary Snowplow No. 900099, built in 1909 and used to clear mountain lines until its retirement in 1969, and Henschel locomotive NR-7, constructed in Kassel, Germany, in 1930.
After operating in Denmark, it was brought to the United States in 1961, briefly intended for a Disneyland-style attraction. Acquired by J.D. Forney in 1962, it was displayed in Fort Collins before moving permanently to Denver in 1968.
A visit
The Forney Transportation Museum has quite a collection of cars, train rolling stock, but also a helicopter, motorcycles, sidecars and bicycles.
The vehicles are all squeezed in the hangar(s). The way they’re displayed is a bit old fashioned and I suspect the operating budget isn’t large. But they’re renovating.
Still, I enjoyed the visit. Being in America, it’s nice to see other cars and vehicles usually on display in Europe.
Railway and transport museums
- RIGA | National Library of Latvia and the Latvian Railway History Museum.
- REVIEW | The Railway Museum, Ōmiya, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture.
- REVIEW | ‘Belgian Railways Under Occupation: Between Collaboration and Resistance’ at Train World in Brussels.
- REVIEW | Conservatoire National de Véhicules Historiques & Musée d’Histoire de la Brasserie de Diekirch car and beer museums in Diekirch, Luxembourg.
- A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
- MONTREAL | Exporail – Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant.
- REVIEW | Motion and emotion at the London Transport Museum.
- BAVARIA | Lokwelt – Locomotive World in Freilassing .
- REVIEW | Orient-Express exhibition at Train World, Brussels’ railway museum.
- REVIEW | Train World exhibition ‘From Peking to Hankow: a Belgian adventure in China’.
- PHOTOS | Train World railway museum in Brussels.
- Railway and transport museums (not) to visit.
- Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum.
- Slovenian Railway Museum in Ljubljana.
- VIDEO | Mail Rail and The Postal Museum in London.
- Plans for a steam train heritage service between Brussels and Mechelen shelved.
- PHOTOS | Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid Delicias railway museum.
- VIDEO | Museu del Ferrocarril de Catalunya – Catalonia Railway Museum in Vilanova.
- REVIEW | Romanian Railway Museum ‘Muzeul CFR’ and Bucharest.
- PHOTOS | UK’s National Railway Museum (NRM) in York.
- PHOTOS | Swiss Museum of Transport Verkehrshaus in Lucerne.
- PHOTOS | Het Spoorwegmuseum – Dutch Railway Museum in Utrecht.
- VIDEO | Return to Spoorwegmuseum Utrecht for the dining car exhibition ‘Tosti’s, truffels, treinen’.
- VIDEO | Stoomtram Hoorn – Medemblik steamtram light rail in Holland.
- Visiting Odense and the Danish Railway Museum.
- Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.