During their lifetime the high side gondolas of the D&RGW have been involved in many different modification programs. Two of these modifications that are of special interest to RGS fans are the log cars employed by the Montezuma Lumber Company to move timber from Timber Spur to McPhee during the late 30s and the cars used by the RGS for company coal.
The log cars were gondolas that had their sides removed and four log bunks installed. If you are not familiar with these cars, there are good pictures on pages 452, 476 and 477 of Volume V and pages 382 and 383 of Volume VI of Sundance's The RGS Story. A number of people - Mike Horner, Steve Swanson, Greg Hiley, Gary Norwood, Will Cheshire, and myself - have worked to put together this roster. We feel that there were probably 20 to 30 cars involved in this modification. The list has 22 cars so it may or may not be complete; it is, however, accurate. From the photos it appears that many but not all of the gondolas chosen for this modification were wooden draft gear cars.
The other roster presented here are the cars that had the "This car not to leave the RGS" placard applied to them. It is felt that these cars were used to carry company coal and the placard was applied to prevent the cars and their loads from the leaving the railroad's property. This roster comes from Greg Hiley and Gary Norwood. For a good picture of the placard I suggest page 109 of Volume I of The RGS Story. The gondola behind Plow Flanger 02 has the placard placed just above the car number. Another picture appears on page 50 of R. Robb's Volume IX of the Narrow Gauge Pictorial. The farthest gondola in this picture has the placard placed just below the button logo.
If you have any additional information about these cars, especially new numbers, please contact me.
Log Cars:
1105, 1438, 1522, 1525, 1565, 1636, 1649, 1663, 1665, 1719, 1766, 1802,
1807, 1836, 1850, 1898, 1911, 1919, 9360, 9450, 9497, and 9500
Not to Leave the RGS:
Certain: 1083, 1477, 1636, 1651, 9452, 154?, ?311
Probable but not certain: 1069, 1108, 1335, 1341, 1530, 1551, 1562, 1583,
1599, 1734, 1789, 9208, 9250, 9292, 9298, 9318, 9403, 9460, and 9483
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