D&RGW Economy Door Boxcar History

by Jeff Johnson

The year 1904 was a significant one for new rolling stock arrivals on the Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge. Among a total of 1700 pieces of rolling stock ordered from the St. Louis-based American Car & Foundry were 750 boxcars that would become one of the most reliable and identifiable narrow gauge freight car classes to ply the three-foot rails of Colorado. They were assigned road numbers 3000 to 3749. Financed through a New York bank mortgage at an approximate cost of $708.50 each, the 25-ton load capacity cars were quickly pressed into service to replace the aging boxcar fleet of the previous century.


Boxcar 3409, Photo by Gerald Best (Courtesy of Robert Grandt)

By the early 1920s, two decades of heavy service was evident on the old cars as the 3000 series fleet begged for replacement or repair. Now re-organized as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, the company accountants found tax burden relief by rebuilding the existing boxcars over the option of placing an order for new cars. The “rebuilding” of the cars has been lightheartedly described as ‘jacking up the road number and replacing everything underneath’. In actuality, the cars were stripped of much of the wood while the hardware and trucks were re-used to construct relatively new cars. As rebuilt, the boxcars were equipped with sheet metal Murphy roofs while the side and end doors on many were upgraded with Camel hardware. Some of the cars were equipped with a relatively sparse door, hasp and door guide design compared to that of the typical Camel hardware equipped models. These versions have come to be known as the “economy door” style boxcars. The term “plain door” boxcar has also been used to describe this unique sub class. Old records do not indicate if all were built as a group, although this scenario is most likely. Some of the hardware used on these cars was an alternative style made by the Camel company with “security” cast into certain parts. Records show that the extensive rebuilding of more than 720 of the 3000 series cars started in the third quarter of 1923 and lasted into 1926. The 1920s marked the only extensive rebuild period of the 3000 series boxcars. By the late 1960s, approximately 20 percent of the surviving 3000 series boxcars were identified as being of the economy door design. A significant number of the 3000 series boxcar fleet continued to serve the D&RGW up to the end of narrow gauge mainline operations on December 6, 1968.

From the D&RGW Authority for Expenditure files:

AFE #659 6-30-1924
Apply cast steel bolster center fillers, latitudinal running boards, replace body bolster fillers, striking castings, carrier irons, roof and carlines. 80 cars $18,932.49

AFE # 2121 6-20-1925
Apply Camel metal bound doors and fixtures, roof, carlines, body & truck roller bearings, reinforce body bolster and replace striking casting. 252 cars $72,739.80

Today, many of these boxcars survive in limited service on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. The studied rolling stock enthusiast can usually spot one a mile away on private property across Colorado and New Mexico.

The Silverton Boxcars


In 1964, the D&RGW crews in Durango, Colorado were in full swing revamping the image of the Silverton Branch. A failed attempt to abandon the branch line prompted the railroad's newfound commitment to more properly exploit the growing tourist trade. New steel coaches arrived in 1963 and 1964 to accommodate a second train on the daily runs to Silverton, Colorado. The railroad also purchased property around the depot to attract new businesses that would cater to the visiting throngs of tourists and rail buffs throughout the summer. Rio Grande Land was born!

Baggage car 126 and Combine 212 had previously been used to haul general supplies for the Silverton trains. Now they were outfitted with concession equipment for the growing passenger business. It was therefore decided to utilize freight Boxcar nos. 3219 and 3468 to handle the baggage needs. To keep these cars looking comparable with the decade-old "Grande Gold" paint scheme, they were decorated in the bright livery to compliment the passenger car fleet on the daily summer runs to Silverton.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

During the creation of this document we received input and material from a variety of people and places. We'd like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following:

“A Century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981” by Robert E. Sloan
D&RGW AFE records courtesy of John Templeton, Boulder, Colorado
Steve Swanson, Idaho Springs, Colorado

© 2009 by Blackstone Models.