Denver, South Park & Pacific Box Car #608

                       Recently our Society accepted title to boxcar 608 from the Boulder Valley Railroad Historical Society.  The car was part of an order for 180 26 foot boxcars from the Litchfield Car & Machinery Works in Litchfield, Illinois.  It was delivered new as Denver South Park & Pacific Rail Road boxcar number 608, circa 1880. 

            During its years on the South Park it was renumbered c1885 with a Union Pacific number, and around 1889 was again relettered with a Denver, Leadville and Gunnison railroad scheme.   It was used on the South Park line until around 1897, when it was bought or leased by the Denver, Boulder and Western railroad.  It worked on that line until around 1904, when new Dawson and Bailey boxcars arrived, and then was converted into a work car.  It served the road for a number of years in this capacity and then found itself on the ground as a section house and eventually was moved to the small town of Cardinal, near Nederland. 

           It was sided with asphalt roofing shingles and served as a summer cabin until 2004 when it was donated and moved to Boulder by the Boulder Valley Railroad Historical Society.  In 2006 it was back on a set of trucks and  moved to the Como roundhouse and placed on a recently laid stretch of track.  In 2010 title to the boxcar was transferred to the Denver South Park and Pacific Historical Society.  It is the Society's intention to cosmetically restore the boxcar for future display in the roundhouse.

	The box car was rolled out of the roundhouse in Como for display during the 2010  DSP&P Historical Society Convention.
	End view of the old #608.  This will be a most interesting job of restoration.
	This side will probably be the biggest challenge.  Fortunately the main frame is pretty much intact.
	Here is an original view of her sister car at work in an original setting from another original sepia tone photo.
	One amazing feature is that the original 1880 DSP&P R R lettering can still be seen.  When the UP "patched" the car in 1885 it did not soak in to the original lead based paint.  The patch eventually faded and the asphalt roofing shingles then preserved the original lettering.