I had the good fortune to ride this car on this photo date. My parents took me on a trip to Colorado Springs in August 1964. I had a single room in the Slumbercoach, while my parents enjoyed a compartment in one of the sleepers. The Slumbercoach was a tight fit, packing 24 single and eight double bedrooms in an 85 foot car. Although each single bedroom had its own toilet, the only way to use the toilet at night was to open the door to the hallway, step out, lift the bed up and stow it away. When in use, the bed covered the toilet, in fact the bed took up the whole room. I was a real pain on the trip, I wanted to do train stuff, my parents wanted to do tourist stuff. I was only 16, so they won. After a week, it was time to head back to Chicago, and they finally broke down and dumped me off at the train station while they packed and checked out of the hotel. I shot photos of everything with flanged wheels that I saw.

At the time of this photo, the arrangement was for select cars to be removed from the DZ upon arrival at Denver, and attached to the rear of the waiting D&RGW Train Number 1, the Royal Gorge (RG). These cars were the DZ's Colorado Springs Connection, and would be uncoupled at Colorado Springs. When they were empty, a waiting D&RGW switcher would collect them and any freight cars that needed transfer, and this 'mixed train' would move to the other side of town, where they would be attached to the northbound D&RGW Train Number 2 (now on AT&SF tracks) for return to Denver. In Denver, a waiting CB&Q Alco S2 switcher would remove them from the RG and switch them into the waiting DZ.

This gave me the opportunity to hop off and snap more photos. Once the train was assembled and ready to leave, I got aboard, hanging out a dutch door and snapping more photos. This met with disapproval of the crew, and I was banished to my Slumbercoach room, at least until they could collect the tickets. I escaped from my room and wandered the length of the train, sitting in vacant coach seats for a while, visiting every dome, peeking into empty compartments, and finally enjoying a fine steak dinner in the diner with my parents. After everyone retired for the evening, I made my way back to the Silver Chateau, which by late evening was nearly vacant. I parked myself in the dome and watched as evening turning into night, and the Mars light of the lead E8 Number 9939A danced across the tracks ahead. I spent the entire evening in that dome savoring every moment, and each new crew checked in on me, but left me alone in the dome, enjoying green signals turning to red as we made our way across mid-America. As the evening wore on, the only occupants of the Silver Chateau were the conductor, the rear brakeman, and me.