Rider Gons

Doug,
I missed the other point. The Rider Gons, the 400 Series, they used to be standard Gauge Cars. Most of them used to be 40' Standard Gauge Flower Out-Side Braced Box Cars. The C&TS have two on the property in Antonito.
The D&RGW took the outed box cars of the day (I'm talking the 1950's) and converted them into pipe Gons for the Alamosa to Farmington runs. These became the 9600 Series Gons in freight service.
When more cars were needed for the Silverton Trains (and the Rocky Mountain Specials) the D&RGW starting using the 9600's to help with the extra passengers.
They became a more offical part of the Silverton Passenger cars in the early 1960's as they were given the trucks off the San Juan RPO Cars and a steel roofs (again from Standard Gauge cars)
There have been quite a few built over the years and some might even be from Standard Gauge Stock cars.
Kevin Cook