Re: Detail Pictures of D&RGW #278 Scale 12"=1'

When the 278 and later the caboose were first placed in Montrose, the D&RGW made it all look "perfect". Everything was painted very nice and pretty much was in operating condition! It sat without a fence near the Chamber of Commerce building for 20 years. By 1973 everything that was glass was broken, gauges were missing and even the caboose stove was gone! I purchased an air gauge for my caboose...0400...from an antique shop in Delta, Colorado in 1974. The guy told me it came from a real D&RGW caboose. On the back of the gauge....in very faded pencil lettering, were the numbers 0577! Bill Jones, who did the original restoration work for the Park Service, once told me that there WAS a gauge in the caboose when it was placed on the bridge. Unfortunatly, the equipment is not much more protected now a days, than it was in Montrose.

Thanks

Jerry