"Silverton" schemes

Hi, Kev:
I think you've got most of it right. I'm not sure I have the whole picture myself.
The brown roof thing happened at the same time all the remaining cars were painted yellow with black trucks, and single stripes. This was either '55 or '54. The four previously painted cars (three coaches and the #212) were painted to match the new ones at that time. You are right, #280 left for Boulder in '52. All this may have been done for a movie. #280 retained it's silver trucks and double striping until we painted the car green in the 1980's. Close examination of #280 revealed that while the stripes were straight, the belt rail below the windows was bowed badly. It was no wonder the single stripe was quickly adopted. What a pain that would have been on 14 cars!
By the next year, the roofs were silver. I'm not sure when the roof clerestory was painted silver on the cars, but I'm sure it was by 1960.
The San Juan cars were not refitted with bus seats until about '60 so "Alamosa" was part of the consist for a few years.
The later style lettering was done by Champ, but the ink was thin and to make them work they had to be doubled. Thinfilm's "delux" gold set is pretty close to the right color, but they have to be doubled too. The best way to duplicate the lettering on these cars is to find the photographically reproduced "Vintage Reproductions" letterboards. These are perfect in both style and appearance. Unfortuately, they were discontinued several years ago.
I am going to try to reproduce a set of them using the computer-photo duplicating process at Wal-Mart. I'll let you know how it turns out.
For car numbers, I am using those from the Champ "Silverton" sets, which have also been discontinued.
Larry Larsen of Larsen Graphics told me earlier in the week that he has artwork for all three styles of Silverton lettering, including D&S, but he has not been able to get the ink opaque enough to suit him yet for decals. He has been forced to discontinue production in dry transfer as a result of EPA meddling and restrictions.