DRGW On The SVRR

It has been nearly 45 years since SVRR began running a steam train on a bit of the old Sumpter Valley Ry. road bed. In order to haul passengers behind the WHEccles Lbr. Co. #3 Heisler which had been brought back to life in 1976, the organization acquired a couple of former Denver & Rio Grande Western freight cars to convert to passenger conveyance. Here are those first two cars. I had not noticed until getting ready to post these photos that the 220 car has "La Bellview" stenciled on it. One of the old mines in the area was the La Bellview, so I assume this is the origin of the name. When SVRR was formed in 1971, preserving local mining history was also included in the organizations mission. Back to photos, the La Bellview name did not remain on the car in later years, in fact the car was renumbered 1102 by the time I joined SVRR in 1998. This car I believe was sold to the Colorado Historical Society for use on the Georgetown Loop. The rear car now 1101 remains on roster, but has been modified with removable windows and doors added. The scans are from the SVRR Archive.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2021 12:54PM by J.B.Bane.