D&RGW BOXCAR PLACARDS Stan Schwedler sent me this great information on D&RGW narrow gauge boxcar placards. He has allowed me to post it on this website. His comments are in italics. I've noticed 7 types of placards on the boxcars, as follows. Most appear in the R/Robb book on boxcars. There might be 1 or 2 more that I never could read clearly in photographs that don't match any of these. FLOUR SUGAR AND BEAN LOADING ONLY The most common. FOR GRAIN LOADING MATCH SPLINT LOADING ONLY I think this came in the late 1940's when the match factory was built at Mancos. CONCENTRATE LOADING MONTROSE OURAY FOR CONCENTRATES ASSIGNED FOR CONCENTRATE SERVICE BETWEEN SILVERTON AND ALAMOSA SILICA SAND LOADING ONLY This came in the late (?) 1950's for a customer that never materialized and after the cars were modified with a tight interior they were used in regular service. In the 1960's these cars showed the best paint and were photographed more often than some of the rest. These were the cars with an "S" prefix before the car number. One of the cars ended up on display behind #278 at Cimarron. (This is also one of the few cars that kept it's 2 piece brake cylinder after the 1924/26 rebuilding. I have found only about 3 others that kept them. The fonts on each of the placards varies. The placards included with the Blackstone Models 3000-series boxcars have the correct placards with the correct fonts. The font used on this webpage should not be considered accurate.
I've noticed 7 types of placards on the boxcars, as follows. Most appear in the R/Robb book on boxcars. There might be 1 or 2 more that I never could read clearly in photographs that don't match any of these. FLOUR SUGAR AND BEAN LOADING ONLY The most common. FOR GRAIN LOADING MATCH SPLINT LOADING ONLY I think this came in the late 1940's when the match factory was built at Mancos. CONCENTRATE LOADING MONTROSE OURAY FOR CONCENTRATES ASSIGNED FOR CONCENTRATE SERVICE BETWEEN SILVERTON AND ALAMOSA SILICA SAND LOADING ONLY This came in the late (?) 1950's for a customer that never materialized and after the cars were modified with a tight interior they were used in regular service. In the 1960's these cars showed the best paint and were photographed more often than some of the rest. These were the cars with an "S" prefix before the car number. One of the cars ended up on display behind #278 at Cimarron. (This is also one of the few cars that kept it's 2 piece brake cylinder after the 1924/26 rebuilding. I have found only about 3 others that kept them.