C&S 4319 lettering question

Greetings all,

In doing research on Colorado & Southern coal car / gondola 4319, I seem to keep running across statements that this series of car never received the large block C&S lettering style and that if there is any trace of that style of lettering on the car, it is from its time in Central City.

Try as I might, I can not locate any photos of the car lettered with the block lettering while on display in Central City and the car itself bears indisputable evidence of having been lettered this way. The block lettering remnants on the car also very much seem to be one of the first layers of paint on the car and as such appear to date from the early C&S days rather than circa 1980's on display in Central City.

In a quest to prove/disprove the historical nature of the lettering remnants I would ask, does anyone have a photo of or firsthand knowledge of C&S 4319 lettered in the "Block" lettering style while on display in Central City?

Thank you

Jason Midyette


The faint ghost of "4319" is visible on the side of the car. Notice how many layers of paint cover the numbers as well as how the numbers are visible in the bare wood. It would seem that if this lettering was applied in Central City it would be atop so many layers of existing paint that it would not survive as the paint peeled off to bare wood.


With the 1987 butchery of a passenger door closed, the block C&S can be seen on the side of 4319. Like the number, this lettering sure seems to be at the base of many layers of paint.


Once in Como, the "4319" could be clearly seen on the other side of the car as well.


As could the large block "C&S"