That would be Fowler cars, Kev. Not Flower cars.
Tisk, tisk.
T add a more trivia, my information is that 400-405 were built in 1963, as were the original steel coaches, 330-335. These were all built to make up a second train.
The steel cars were placed up front on both sections, wood cars to the rear.
In 1966, wood coaches 284 and 306 were retired, their trucks went to their replacements, new steel coaches 336 and 337. Those two cars still use those trucks, I believe.
The wood cars were rebuilt steel in the 1970's because they had to be. The last season before coach 350 (Alamosa) was rebuilt, they had to open all the windows and doors hours before departure every day because the air was so foul from rot you could hardly breathe. For years, the "lead" vestibule coach in the train was #319. By the 70's, 319 had to be placed just ahead of 350 because they were afraid of pulling a drawbar.
These cars were in very heavy service every day during the seasons for years. They were worn out.
Burnham did a fabulous job with the rebuilds to #'s 312, 323, and 327. When the one of a kind #319 went up to Burnham they did an equally wonderful job recreating the original narrow windows and lower profile roof. The Alamosa also came back very close to what it had been when it went up there for rebuilding.
When the time came for the last two, Baggage 126, and Combine 212, everyone thought they too would be returned as they had left Durango.
No one seems to know who in Denver had the idea to rebuild both cars with coach windows, but every employee on the property was sick about it when they came back.
While we can grade the 'Grande with an "F" for 126 and 212, you have to give high marks for the others.
The weight wasn't really much different, as I understand it after the cars were built. Both trains ran 11 cars just as before. They often had problems with full trains in rainy weather.
Today, the D&S only runs 7 or 8 cars behind the 470's, but in the days of the D&RGW, they were beat to death every day of every season.
When bus seats replaced the old plush San Juan seats in the vestibule coaches and the Alamosa, seating capacity increased from 24 to 44 in the vestibule coaches, and from 10 to 40 in the Alamosa. That meant an additional 110 seats every day, 770 seats every week, 3,080 a month, and 12,320 additional seats a season. That bought a lot of coal.
Last note, coach 319 is a Jackson & Sharp car, the other Vestibule coaches were all originally built by the D&RG.
