More on X950-956 ballast cars

Thanks Frank to both you and Curt Bianchi for providing responses to my original questions about these cars. I am still hoping someone can provide a little more detail on what these critters were. Have I overlooked them in the authoritative books on the subject: Sloan's "A Century + 10 of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981" or Grandt's " NG Pictorial Volume X, Numbered Work Cars of the D&RGW"?
Please understand, I'm not trying to call anyone a liar or unknowledgeable; rather I have this almost insatiable passion for the D&RGW NG and I find fascinating the answers to "what was it like then?", "how did they do that and with what?" or "how did that thing operate?" To anyone else with the same passion I encourage you to get involved in hands-on restoration work and there are mucho ways to do that at a place near you. A strong sales pitch - I have found my satisfaction at the Colorado RR Museum in Golden where I have been able to experience such things as manual-labor track laying the "old-way", firing and running steam locomotives, switching cars at night with lanterns (to really respect the old-timers try tying down/untying cars with a kero brakeman's lantern) while absorbing the almost surreal atmosphere created by night-time in a dark NG RR yard or siding with crashing couplers, hissing steam, thunka-thunka air pumps, warm caboose stoves or locomotive cabs on crisp mornings or evenings, cabooses dimly lit by oil lamps, and the comraderie of folks who share the passion and fun with you. But you have to work too - With 72 hours annually of volunteer work on your choice of an almost endless variety of projects you have the opportunity to be trained, rated on operating positions, and participate in train operations. So come on out and join us! Contact me via e-mail or the CRRM Office for further info.
Long winded I know, but I did say "passion" didn't I?
Dick Ferguson (alias Fergy)