Nostalgia & History > The Rio Grande Zephyr at Utah Railway Junction

On a beautiful June evening in '76, the Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 17 departs Helper while entering scenic Price Canyon at Utah Railway Junction.

James Belmont
Salt Lake City, UT

---

What's the combine behind the units?

the combine is one of two they retained from the "C&O Order"
I never saw the RGZ without one of them

combine was always ther it was baggage/coach I love this pic my first trip was in 1973 a short 4 car train with a gp30 for power made over 30 trips over next 10 years for those whop never rode a truly great experiance

Well....they were a combination baggage-coach, then, very shortly after the D&RGW got it, it became a combination baggage-dormitory-coach. Shortly after the demise of the Prospector, it reverted to baggage-coach.

While it was part of the Robert Young C&O order (but never OWNED by the C&o - D&RGW purchased cars from that order directly from Pullman - the cars the D&RGW purchased from the C&O were the 3 dome coach observations (a diaphragm was added to the obs end shortly after arrival at Burnham). , it was not identical to the one combine the C&O retained - mainly due to the window modification for the dormitory, but also a few detail differences, not the least of which is the non-use of the butt-ugly (YMMV) C&O number boards on the dummy end over the truck.

The combine is, in many ways, the easiest way to tell the date in RGZ photos ( a very nice one, BTW!) - as modifications in paint (4 stripe (predates RGZ), single stripe, no strip, all aluminum), skirting, truck color, etc. can (usually) be readily seen and discerned.

Since there *were* two combines, they usually were on the RGZ- if one was being maintained, modified, repaired, etc. the other could and did take its place) But there were times, especially when the Ski Train ran, when the combine was missing. Baggage was not usually an issue, and express had long gone (for the most part). Company "mail" was often sent via the RGZ in the combine.

In the FWIW category, the original seats in the Combines were better than the CZ seats in the dome coaches.

Both are still extent, and in the realm of things, dirt cheap - they were #10K or there abouts,
http://www.ozarkmountainrailcar.com/detail.asp?id=536&n=Rio-Grande-Railroad-Combine-1230-REDUCED
and the CRRM obtained 1231. It had been for sale for around $12K at one point.

BTW, the RGMHS did offer the car in HO & N scale in anticipation of the Broadway Limited (promised but not produced) Rio Grande Zephyr cars.

There may still be some around (though not N) and you can still find USP or TSP sides / car cores for them.

The Rio Grande operating crews on the old Rio Grande Zephyr train 17, were based out of Salt Lake City and worked between Salt Lake and Grand Junction (conductors and brakemen). Helper, UT passenger enginemen worked between Helper and Salt Lake.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/14 18:12 by RodneyZona.

Great shot, James.

~Ryan

rswebber Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BTW, the RGMHS did offer the car in HO & N scale
> in anticipation of the Broadway Limited (promised
> but not produced) Rio Grande Zephyr cars.
>
> There may still be some around (though not N) and
> you can still find USP or TSP sides / car cores
> for them.


Bob is there a way to order one of these cars in HO? I tried the site but its fairly useless site unless you renewing a membership.

TomG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bob is there a way to order one of these cars in
> HO? I tried the site but its fairly useless site
> unless you renewing a membership.


Tom, the reason the web site isn't useful for ordering is that officially, there is no inventory. So, ordering would be difficult.

I *MAY* have some here, I know I have some COLLEGE series car kits, and a lot of the 8' x 4 60' baggage car sides. Not sure what else.

At one time, we sold the 5-6-5, the LW MBE, LW baggage, LW coach, COLLEGE series kits, 1910 coaches, 60' ACF baggage cars and a few other misc. pieces. Note that while of the C&O order, the D&RGW cars are quite different visually (from the C&O prototype Walthers carz) hence the reason for the specific kits for the D&RGW (YMMV - some don't mind the issues).

If you're looking for something specific, let me know and I'll check. The interest in kits went to the toilet with the introduction of the Walthers variants and the lack of a true RGZ. That and people don't want to build kits. We cancelled the rest of the HW cars as a result.