Restoration of Railroad Car 211
Tax deductible
Please join the Hinsdale County Historical Society and Lake City Museum to restore the 1883 Denver & Rio Grande Railroad repurposed combination car.
This 27-seat, 36-foot-long passenger car was built by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) in 1883. It weighed 22,400 pounds and cost $2,726.16 to construct.
Car 211 received a major remodel in 1900 when Denver & Rio Grande repurposed it as a combined freight car and 24-seat passenger car which reflects diminishing rail traffic on some lines and the wish to economize by combining freight and passengers in a single car. As designed, the car consisted of the 16 foot 11 inch by 7 foot 5-1/2 inch wide baggage compartment with a sleeping bunk and wood stove, and the passenger compartment included reversible seats (the direction they were used depended on whether the car was coming or going), a wood stove, toilet compartment, and water cooler.
Dimensions of the passenger compartment are 20 feet 9 inches long and 7 feet 5-1/2 inches wide. The style of the car's roof was originally a blunt "bull-nose" when constructed in 1883 but was modified to existing gently-sloping "Duck Bill" in 1900. The car continued in use -- including service on the Lake City Branch of the D & RG in the late 1910s and 1920s -- until retirement in 1940. It was acquired by the Flying D Ranch at Fort Lupton on Colorado's eastern plains and in turn sold to Don Shanks' Denver & Rio Grande Historical Foundation in 2002. Shanks sold the car -- donating a significant portion of its appraised value -- to Hinsdale County Historical Society in September of 2017.
This 27-seat, 36-foot-long passenger car was built by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) in 1883. It weighed 22,400 pounds and cost $2,726.16 to construct.
Car 211 received a major remodel in 1900 when Denver & Rio Grande repurposed it as a combined freight car and 24-seat passenger car which reflects diminishing rail traffic on some lines and the wish to economize by combining freight and passengers in a single car. As designed, the car consisted of the 16 foot 11 inch by 7 foot 5-1/2 inch wide baggage compartment with a sleeping bunk and wood stove, and the passenger compartment included reversible seats (the direction they were used depended on whether the car was coming or going), a wood stove, toilet compartment, and water cooler.
Dimensions of the passenger compartment are 20 feet 9 inches long and 7 feet 5-1/2 inches wide. The style of the car's roof was originally a blunt "bull-nose" when constructed in 1883 but was modified to existing gently-sloping "Duck Bill" in 1900. The car continued in use -- including service on the Lake City Branch of the D & RG in the late 1910s and 1920s -- until retirement in 1940. It was acquired by the Flying D Ranch at Fort Lupton on Colorado's eastern plains and in turn sold to Don Shanks' Denver & Rio Grande Historical Foundation in 2002. Shanks sold the car -- donating a significant portion of its appraised value -- to Hinsdale County Historical Society in September of 2017.
Organizer
Kristine Borchers
Organizer
Lake City, CO
Hinsdale County Historical Society
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
