The main thrust of this article will be a discussion of these cars after they were rebuilt. I have little information on what the cars were like before the rebuild, so that subject will have to wait. At the bottom of this page, you will find hot links to each of the cars involved in this discussion.
John Maxwell's Letter
As I said in the opening page of this issue, I was not aware of the facts surrounding the nine stake high side gondolas until Don Smith sent me a copy of a letter that John Maxwell had sent him in 1978. Here is what John had to say about these cars:
Some years, ago we got quite a few visits from Colorado N. G. modelers, but for the past few years there have been only one or two during the summer. Apparently the reduction in mileage of the prototype and the growth of museums with N. G. equipment makes many feel they can find out all they need at said museums. But here again, many modelers do not realize they are seeing only a selected few items of equipment, and many other significant items were missed on the prototype or are missing in the museums.
For instance, in the July issue (I believe) of the MODEL RAILROADER were drawings of various series of D&RGW N. G. high side gondolas. Yet the man who drew those did not realize the significance of the cars with 9 side stakes! From the time of construction, about 1902, until rebuilt in the mid 1920's, the series of cars from 1250 to 1499 were listed in old D&RG Rosters as "Dump Cars!" In a few Fred Jukes photos of about 1908, one can see a few gondola cars with something along the sides on the middle five side stakes. These were the "dump" gondolas, with a single side stake in the middle of the car side, between the stakes at the needle beams. This gives four spaces of very nearly equal spacing. There were four drop doors under the car on each side, held up against the bottom of the sills with chains running up and around a iron rod running across the middle five side stakes and held with a mechanism similar to that on the rebuilt Dump Gons of the 700 to 899 series. Of course, the corners of the cars would not automatically dump, and manpower had to be used to shovel out the corners, but in the 1907's to mid 1920's wages were low and the cost of this shoveling was low. When this series of cars was rebuilt to higher "high" sides and the bottom doors removed, the instructions were that if the side stakes were in good condition, they would be used and extension stakes would be applied to hold the top boards. If the side stakes were bad, then entirely new stakes of the new length would be applied with two stakes between the needle beam stakes! Also, cars of this type and all the other series used in the Barrel Transfer at Salida had the top side boards and top of side stakes more or less battered. So here again from about 1925 to the end of transfer at Salida, gondolas were repaired at Salida using the same basic instructions as to side stakes. Thus, over the years, one could find cars with Nos. 1250 to 1499 with 9 side stakes each side, 9 on one side and 10 on the other, and with 10 side stakes on both sides!! But these were ONLY in series 1250 to 1499! No cars with numbers 1250 to 1000 ever had anything except 10 stakes both sides. The gondola cars in series 9200 to 9299 and 9300 to 9574 were originally built "Low Draft"! This means the couplers were mounted near the center of the underframe, and the cars were much lower to the rail. The 1000 to 1249, 1250 to 1499, 1500 to 1899 & 1900 to 1924 series had the draft gear attached to draft timbers UNDER the underframe, so the cars rode much higher above the rail. The D&RGW called them HIGH DRAFT cars. During the rebuilding in the 1920's, the 9200 to 9574 cars had the body raised & the draft gear moved below the underframe, but they were still a bit lower than others! Photos of 9200 series cars low draft appear in Vol. I of the Mineral Belt.
Conclusions
After I received this letter from Don, I went through the high side gondola inventory that Will Cheshire and I have been working on for the last couple of years. There are presently 79 cars in the inventory and sure enough every nine stake car is in the 1250 to 1499 group. There are no exceptions.
There are 12 cars in the inventory in the 1250 to 1499 group. Four have nine stakes on both sides. Five have nine on one side and ten on the other, and three have ten stakes on both sides. Three of these cars (the 1258 and 1267 are on the Georgetown Loop and the 1423 is at the Colorado Railroad Museum) are within easy reach and have been visited in the last couple of weeks. Studying these three cars and looking at the few published photographs available has led me to few general conclusions:
First, the few existing photos clearly show that the cars were just what John said they were. There were four dump doors on each side, one each between the center five stakes. They were hinged near the center sills and appear to have been operated with a chain and rod arrangement running along the side of the car similar to a modern drop bottom gondola. Second, from looking at existing cars, it is clear that the bottom three side boards were normally retained from the original car when it was rebuilt to the high side configuration. On car sides that now have ten stakes, there is a row of holes where the original center stake was located. Third, there are other holes scattered about on the existing sides, but unused holes are common on all of the high side gondolas. Forth, there is no discernible pattern of holes on the three cars that I have visited that gave any indication as to original arrangement of the dump mechanism.
It's also clear that the original underframes of these cars must have been very different from the present configuration. Nothing like the present layout could have existed on the original cars. Break rigging, trussrods, intermediate and center sills, and the needle beams all must have been quite different before the rebuild. Apparently, when the cars were rebuilt, in addition to the hardware only parts of the ends, sides, and perhaps the side sills, were retained.
Published Photographs
I have searched through my library looking for historical pictures of these cars, with only limited success. Here are the photos that I have been able to find:
The Rio Grande Southern, an Ultimate Pictorial, Richard Dorman, pg 251. Taken in Porter in 1912, this photo shows two of the cars, one of which may be the 1372. Although some distance away it is easy to make out some kind of dumping arrangement between the middle five stakes. The doors even appear to be slightly open on the far car.
The Rio Grande Southern II an Ultimate Pictorial Study, Richard Dorman, pg 332. Also taken at Porter and dated about 1930, this photo is blurry, but does show that the two near gons are of the nine stake cars. These cars are still in their original configuration, so I believe that the date is actually earlier.
Narrow Gauge in the Rockies, Beebe & Clegg, pg 52. Taken at Lobato, the first car in the train is a nine stake and shows, although not clearly, the dumping mechanism along the side.
Narrow Gauge in the Rockies, Beebe & Clegg, pg 54. Taken in Chama in 1908, this picture shows car number 1475 on the far left. Unfortunately the weeds obscure the dumping mechanism.
Trails Among the Columbine, edited by Russ Colemen, pg 162-163. Taken in Crested Butte in 1912, the car closest to the camera is a nine stake car. The shadows, however, hide any hint of the dumping mechanism.
George L. Beam and the Denver & Rio Grande, Vol. II, Jackson Thode, pg 19. Taken inside the Alamosa car shop in 1923, the photo shows a high side gondola in the process of being rebuilt. The number is 1587, so it is not part of the nine stake group, but it does give some idea as to what was being done to these cars.
George L. Beam and the Denver & Rio Grande, Vol. II, Jackson Thode, pg 18. I guess there is an exception to every rule. On the left of this picture, probably taken the same day as the photo on page 19, is gondola number 1464. This gon is in the nine stake series and it's in the original 4 board configuration. If this car is waiting to be rebuilt, we should be able to see something of the dump mechanism on the extreme left, but it's not there. The car also look bright and shinny like it's just been shopped. However, if this is after the rebuild, the car should be five boards tall and it isn't.
As the king of Siam once said, "it is a puzzlement."
There are 12 cars discussed in detail in the following portion of this article. Each section contains pertinent information, diagrams, and photographs. The discussion of each of these cars follows the same format as the gondola discussion in Vol. 1 No. 3. If there is something you don't understand about the presentation here, like a definition, please review that issue.
As stated earlier I have learned that 1499 is not a valid car number, and so this car is not included in the discussion. There is another car from this group that I know of, the 1257, but it hasn't been inventoried yet, and so it also isn't included. It should be done by the next issue and so will be included then.
So, decide which car you would like to visit and click on the hot link.
1258 - 1267 - 1268 - 1313 - 1331 - 1343 - 1400 - 1423 - 1434 - 1443 - 1456 - 1484
If you wish to contact me for any reason my e-mail address is: bdwhite@orci.com