Jim Graves, who had owned the Train Cars in Nederland for seven years, handed over the keys to Patrick Saenz on September 10, 2021. Graves sold the business to Saenz. Graves leased the Train Cars building from Tebo Properties, which also owns the Caribou Village Shopping Center. He had a five-year lease.
Graves had been running the Train Cars for seven years and nine months. He said that considering everything, the fire, flood, road closures, and a year-and-a-half of the pandemic, they could have done better. “I enjoyed doing it and had a lot of fun with a lot of locals, and I have no regrets,” Graves said. When he took over at the Train Cars, they didn’t have much of a menu, so he made a lot of initial changes throughout the years and increased the menu. It began to carry its own. “We had a lot of local people and business, and I enjoyed being around the local people,” Graves said. “They supported me in the times it was slow, and if it hadn’t been for the local people supporting me, I’m not sure I would have survived.”
Raised in Arkansas, he was in the Air Force as an air traffic controller and earned a commercial pilot’s license. He moved to Colorado in 1982. He has a bachelor of science degree in technical management and sociology from Regis University in Denver. He went to Arkansas for a couple of years, and opened a marina and restaurant called Smiley’s Crab Shack.
When he came back to Colorado, he was a skill instructor at Eldora and then purchased a kiosk across from the Justice Center in Gilpin County. Graves had that for about six years before he got involved with the Train Cars. The campsite where his kiosk was located had been sold when the campsite changed hands, and they didn’t want him there, so he sold the kiosk and concentrated on the Train Cars.
Will Guercio and his dad owned the shopping center at that time, and Will ran the Train Cars, Graves said. He was wanting to get out of it, so Graves negotiated the business with him. Now, Patrick Saenz is ready and excited to get the keys to the Train Cars.
He said he doesn’t want to bring a lot of change, but he has commercial space in Boulder to prepare food for now. When Saenz was growing up, his father had steakhouses, so he was introduced to the restaurant industry young. He graduated from Colorado State University in 1995 with a degree in natural resources management. Saenz spent two years in Puerto Rico and opened a burrito restaurant there. At the Train Cars, they hope to make their own pastries, breakfast burritos, and sandwiches. Saenz said he has two nephews who are chefs. They would like to do more food inhouse and streamline things to make it flow better.
Jim Graves said he is very pleased that Saenz and he were able to come up with a deal. Graves thinks Saenz is the perfect replacement and has some really good ideas to take the Train Cars to the next level. As for Graves, he said he would like to do some traveling. He has kids from the east coast to west coast, so he bought an RV, and would like to see US National Parks and sites while they are visiting the kids. He will continue to have his home in Pinecliffe. “I will never get rid of this place. We love it here. Every time we leave, when we come back, we ask, “Why did we leave?” In any case, Jim Graves leaves the Train Cars in good hands.
The Train Cars are located at 101 Peak to Peak Highway, Nederland. For more information check out their Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Thetraincars/, their website at http://www.thetraincarscoffee.com/ or call (303) 258-2455.
