Denver & Rio Grande Western Boxcar No. 3132
Montrose County
Associated with the freight train operations of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Boxcar No. 3132 played a significant role in helping to develop the great oil and gas fields of the Paradox and San Juan basins of western Colorado and northwestern New Mexico in the decades following World War II. Boxcar No. 3132 is historically significant in that it was one of only seven known D&RGW 3000-series narrow-gauge gauge boxcars to serve part of its career carrying silica sand, an important additive used in the production of the oil and gas from the emerging fields in Colorado and New Mexico in the 1950s. Boxcar No. 3132 is also an excellent example of the 3000-series freight boxcars that served as the backbone of the railroad’s efforts to modernize its narrow-gauge operations.
Denver & Rio Grande Western Boxcar No. 3132 (2008 photograph.)
This car illustrated the methods of construction used in building wooden narrow-gauge freight cars of the period. The conversion of the car in 1925 reflects the railroad’s efforts to modernize their cars and was rebuilt by D&RGW shop workers in Alamosa, Colorado. The boxcar operated over the railroad’s narrow-gauge system for over forty years, until stricken from the rolls in 1970.