I just goes to show you that even the "offical" records are sometimes incorrect as 280 is not included with the other cars. Does 284 still have evidence of electric lighting? There is a shot of its interior in the NG Pictorial V II that doesn't show any signs of electricity.
According to reports, that last week the San Juan ran, just about every available coach was in use - vestibuled and open platformed. One train ran with the "proper" San Juan equipment, the other with a "made up consist". They even made use of cars that had been stripped of seats by installing rows of theatre seats along the windows.
Another question: The other open platoform cars were set up to allow them to run in the San Juan north of Antonito. How long did this actually happen? I've seen a couple of shots and have Richard Jackson movies of the combined trains, but have also seen a lot of 1938-41 shots of the San Juan south of Alamosa with only the standard consist. Ideas? Theories? Speculations?