I suspect that in light of today's trademark restrictions, what this might be about is some legal gobbledygook and boilerplate disclaimer that protects the D&S when equipment is lettered D&RGW. The UP owns all D&RGW trademark licenses, and the D&S probably has to sign certain agreements that protect them in a number of ways.
So, stupid and seemingly impossible to enforce as it may seem, there probably are some issues at the root of the question.
I seem to recall that #473 was lettered D&RGW for the photographers special, but not for Railfest in 2003.
Whatever it takes to make it work is worth it. Stupid or not.