Background:

Trains 19 & 20, The Mountaineer, were night trains from Denver to (originally) Montrose and back. Service was initiated July 1, 1936. Service was cut back to Grand Junction June 16, 1952. Service was terminated October 24, 1959.

When the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad was merged into the D&RGW in 1949, the tri-weekly D&SL overnight mixed train was converted into a nightly train. The D&SL overnight train had the distinction of carrying one of the very few non-Pullman operated sleepers, in the form of coach sleepers WINTER PARK and DAVID MOFFAT (which had been converted from Pullman Parlor cars). After the merger, the daily overnight train provided an air conditioned coach and a Pullman operated heavyweight 12-1. This train was run from Denver to Bond as part of the Denver-Grand Junction train, the Mountaineer (trains 19 & 20), and from Bond to Craig as a separate train. The area though really wanted and needed a day time train and on September 5, 1954 the train was converted to a daytime run. becoming the Yampa Valley Mail. After the conversion, the Mountaineer was once again a single train from Denver to Grand Junction.

Images of the Mountaineer:

• Denver and Rio Grande Western standard gauge locomotive 454 (2-8-2), with The Mountaineer passenger train, and narrow gauge locomotive 784 (4-6-0), with five freight cars, wait at the depot in Montrose (Montrose County), Colorado. Tanks are in the distance. Date 1951 November 21. (obviously, the locomotives were misidentified in the caption of this photo!)
  
• View of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company standard gauge locomotive 784 (4-6-0), with the passenger train, "The Mountaineer," near Montrose (Montrose County), Colorado. The locomotive vents smoke.
  Date 1952 April 17.
  

Equipment Notes:

As with any passenger train, modeling the Mountaineer is depenent upon the era and season being modeled. The Mountaineer was a heavyweight train, and rarely carried a lightweight car. This was the last D&RGW train to see a Pullman observation (a 10 section lounge). This train typically included a large head-end portion (three or four of the 61' baggage cars were not unusual).

70' Steel Baggage

Rebuilt from 1910 baggage-buffet cars

70' Steel rebuilt 1910 coaches - Note that there were other cars in the 960 -970; 971 - 975; 976 - 979; 980 - 985 series that were occasionally assigned as well (all 1910 rebuilds)

Brass - Lambert 802 has a version that requires a lot of updates; Soho

In N Scale: Pecos River Brass 1848

Note: This page is still under construction and will likely be continually updated as models and more information come forward.