Baggage-Mail-Express #43 & #44
|
DSP&P |
U.P. 1885 |
DL&G 1889 |
C&S 1899 |
C&S 1906 |
| #43 |
#1301 |
#1301 |
#114 |
Baggage-mail #13 |
| #44 |
#1302 |
#1302 |
#115 |
Burned 13 Feb '06 |
 |
|
(1) Pullman-built baggage-mail-express car #1301 nearing Boreas
Pass, 1886. Photo at
Digerness1-386
and
Digerness2-122. What
appears to be louvers across the mail-room window may be hardwood slats on
the inside serving as security bars, highlighted by direct sunlight—the
precursor to the later iron bars usually on the outside (but see photo #5
for iron bars on the inside). |
DESCRIPTION
Pullman-built
baggage-mail-express cars #43 and #44 were much more
“modern”
looking than baggage-mail-express #42 built by the South Park’s Denver
shops just six months before. Where #42 had a single door on each side, with
four windows, looking somewhat like a modified passenger-carrying car, #43 and
#44 had one door on each side for mail and a separate door for baggage: a much
more efficient arrangement. Even though a
“mail”
car, it is unlikely mail was sorted
on these cars initially, as it would be two years before the South Park had a Railway Post Office contract.
These cars had
end platforms at both ends, and
the
platform roof profile was Pullman’s typical
bull-nose type. The sheathing of
the car appears to be the typical beaded millwork of later times, rather than
any kind of esoteric paneling. (But look at the paneling in the
doors!)
There does appear to have
been a difference between #43 and #44: the two stoves in #43 appear
to have been on the same side of the car, while those in #44 appear to have been
on opposite sides. At one point we thought there was a difference, too, between
the placement of the windows in the mail section, with one car having the window
centered between the mail door and the end of the car and the other having the
window offset toward the door, but we have come to the conclusion the difference
is between the two sides of each car, rather than between the cars. (Thus photos
#1 and #2 show the two different sides of #1301, while #3 and #4 show the two
different sides of #1302/115.)
 |
|
(2) Denver, Leadville & Gunnison baggage-mail-express car #1301 at Stony Point
in the 1890s. M.E. Chase photo at
Digerness2-124and
Ferrell/SoPk-175. Note
here and in photo below that it appears #1301 had both stoves on the same
side, while #1302 had them on opposite sides. |
 |
|
(3)
DL&G
baggage-mail-express car #1302 at Morrison, in 1895. Note the Union
Pacific lettering. Photo at
Digerness1-123. |
HISTORY
Baggage-mail-express cars #43
and #44 were built by the Pullmans Palace Car Company as part of a two car order
from the Denver, South Park & Pacific. Things were going well. A deal had been
cut with the Denver & Rio Grande to connect to Leadville via the Rio Grande
tracks north from Buena Vista, and tracks were well on their way west to
Gunnison. The South Park needed cars of all types.
The two baggage-mail-express
cars were delivered in June of 1880, and within a month
were being operated in daily passenger trains between Denver and Malta (3 miles
short of Leadville). Within another month they were in daily service between
Denver and Leadville itself.
In 1882, the
South Park began RPO service between Denver and Leadville and between Buena
Vista and Gunnison, presumably using these cars. In 1885, the Union Pacific
renumbered #43 and #44 in the baggage-mail-express category as #1301 and #1302
(#42 became #1300). The cars kept these numbers under the 1889 reorganization as
the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison. If they were rebuilt during this time, the
photographs show no sign of it. When the road became the Colorado & Southern in
1899, #1301 became #114 and #1302 became #115.
Continued
