After brief speeches by mayor pro tem Kathy Rogers and railroad general manager Ken Bitten, Iowa Pacific president Ed Ellis steps up to speak about the shops and to thank the community again for its support of the railroad.

The five dig in with the ceremonial shovels. Being the middle of winter in Alamosa, the frozen ground had a little prep work done with a backhoe beforehand.

The groundbreaking team, from left to right, includes Ken Bitten, general manager of the SL&RG; Kathy Rogers, mayor pro tem for the City of Alamosa; Jeff B

A map showing the approximate location and footprint of the new shop/office building (with aerial image shamelessly ripped off from Google Maps)

The reception after the short groundbreaking ceremony was held in RPCX 510 - one of the recently-acquired dome cars.

Mayor Ferris Bervig is one of the first guests to climb up in the dome for the post-groundbreaking reception.

The downstairs level of RPCX 510, with two of the attendees and even more food!

The railroad currently has no shop building. In order to keep the steam locomotive team out of the weather, they've put 1744 under a tent this winter.

The open field where the shops will be built, looking northeast. The site is located between Hunt and La Due Ave on the west and east, the mainline on the north, and Seventh Street on the south.