John,
Thank you very much. Lots of good information. Like so many things it seems, the answer just leads to 50 more questions!
It appears certain that the D&RGW sold gons 1071, 1168, 1216, 1388, 1399 and 1418 to the CB&Q in 1948. The CB&Q rebuilt them into passenger cars for the 1948 Chicago RR fair.
From there the story becomes a bit murky but seems to go as follows; After the close of the fair in 1949, the cars were stored and eventually ended up on the Black Hills Central, where they were used until around 1968, when 3 of them were sold to Lindsey Ashby for the Colorado Central in Central City. These cars later became Georgetown Loop 5, 7 and 9 and have recently been sold to the Tweetsie in North Carolina. The other two or three cars most likely ended up in Indiana and later burned in a fire.
In 1949, the D&RGW wanted in on the Chicago RR fair action and sent their own train, which consisted of locomotive 268, a business car, coach and four gons just like the ones the CB&Q made the year before. The Business car has long been known to be B-3 (now the Nomad on the D&SNG), the coach has been rumored (though never proven or even a good case made) to be D&RGW 280 and the gons converted high sides, #'s unknown. The D&RGW equipment came back to Colorado after the fair and resumed its pre fair existence, except for the gons, which legend holds were used as "bleachers at the Alamosa fair grounds"
D&RGW AFE 1951 sheds some interesting light on the "Cripple Creek & Tin Cup" (the D&RGW's name for the Chicago RR Fair train)equipment;
-Only 2 more gondolas were rebuilt by the D&RGW (1241 and 1273), the other two used by the D&RGW in 1949 were borrowed from the CB&Q. Thus the total # of "Fair Gons" built was 8, not 10 as I previously thought.
-The borrowed gons went back to the CB&Q and then to the Blck Hills Central etc. The could be among the three siold to Ashby by the Black Hills Central.
- The two gons built by the D&RGW (1241 and 1273) came back to the D&RGW and were later dismantled. (There is photo evidence of them back on the D&RGW after the RR Fair). Additionaly, the RGS Technical Page lists 1241 and 1273 as being retired in December of 1954. Thus it would seem that the passenger bodies may or may not have been used as bleachers while the cars themselves got their walls back and soldiered on as gondolas for a few more years.
- Taken at face value, AFE 1951 seems to indicate that the D&RGW did not send a coach to the 1949 Chicago RR Fair, but borrowed one from the CB&Q. Barring some unknown mystery car, the only narrow gauge coach owned by the CB&Q at that point was C&S 76 (now at Silver Plume) which had been used by the CB&Q as "Deadwood Dick" of the "Deadwood Central" for the 1948 Fair. Thus, it would seem, that C&S 76 was both the "Deadwood Central's Deadwood Dick" and the "Cripple Creek & Tincup's Chief Ouray". (The scant photographic evidence I have seems to confirm this, see my next post for the photos)
Jason Midyette
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2014 03:14PM by Jason Midyette.
