Section Tool House near Wagon Wheel Gap, Colorado

This is one of the Rio Grande original facilities remained along its route in Colorado: the section tool house near Wagon Wheel Gap.

This picturesque old boxcar shed is found on former Rio Grande Creede Branch. Even though the branch was standardized in 1902, this is a narrow gauge car: maybe brought in from Alamosa.




Barely read numbers “34” on side suggest this car as one of DRGW 3000 – 3749 class 30’ XM built by American Car & Foundry in 1904.

As you can see, CAMEL CO relief is found on every hardware. The complicated door latch, called "door-starter" helping the heavy stuck door open, suggests that this particular car was rebuilt in the 20’s[1].


A boxcar from same series but with trucks and “Economy Door” is found at Monte Vista, CO[2]. Another, DRGW #3001 is found at Grand Junction, CO.

All photos were taken on Sep. 2017

[1] National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for D&RGW Boxcar #3132;
[2] Johnson, Jeff (2009) “D&RGW Economy Door Boxcar History”, Blackstone Models webpage;





旧D&RGW沿線に今も遺るRio Grandeの遺物を紹介している。

この「いかにも」な保線小屋は、Wagon Wheel Gap近くの旧D&RGW・Creede Branch沿線にある。車体形状や微かに遺る番号表記から推測して、1904年AC＆F製の30フィート車である。当線の標準軌への改軌は1902年だから、この車体は後に持ち込まれたものだろう。

上に示した複雑な形状のCamel製鎖錠装置は、この貨車が1920年代に改造を受けたことを示すらしい。近くのMonte Vistaという町で見つけた同型車は、これとは異なる簡素な“Economy Door”を装備している。