"American Cowboy" Documentary shot around Gunnison

The railroad footage for the Ford Motor Company documentary "American Cowboy" was shot in the fall of 1949 during the annual cattle drive from the Colorado high country to the stock pens in Gunnsion and Iola. Footage from both locations appears in the film, randomly edited together. Locomotives #278 and #361 appear in the background(s) of that footage. The narrative also includes a "reporter" stepping off the train at the Gunnison depot in the beginning of the film to get the story of ranching in the Gunnison area. As Shavano passenger service to Gunnison had ended in 1940, one San Juan coach was brought to Gunnison for this scene. It was tagged onto the end of a few high side gondolas with K-37 locomotive #499 on the head end. "American Cowboy" is one of 50+ motion pictures filmed on the Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge and its successors, the Cumbres & Toltec and Durango & Silverton. The story of all of the films is told in my book "Hollywood's Railroads, Volume Three: Narrow Gauge Country." Learn more at: [www.cochetopapress.biz]. Books make terrific Christmas presents!