Re: Aspen Gold Boxcars

Sometime in the mid-1970's the Grande stopped using the boxcars. I see by the time the pic was taken then had been branded with "X" numbers which indicated "rear of train only".
I recall riding about 1975 when the entire front coach (except my dad, little bro and I) was taken up it backpackers bound for Elk Park. The crew managed to stuff all their gear on the front platform of the first coach and tied it down so it wouldn't fall off. It took a good 15 minutes to unload the crowd and get thier cinder covered stuff off the front of the car. We were the only ones left on the car as Engineer Larry Shawcroft made a serious attempt to make up some lost time to Silverton. Somewhere I have audio tape of 473 winding it out to nearly 20mph between the Animas Bridge and Mineral Creek.