Little is known about the history of this truly unique derrick car built by Billmeyer & Smalls in the late Nineteenth Century. The only historical record we have is a line drawing from a Billmeyer & Smalls catalog, a sheet of which is reproduced in Narrow Gauge Railroads in America. The car was produced for the Mexican National Construction Co.
(a subsidiary of the Denver & Rio Grande) and it is possible that the D&RG also purchased some of these derrick cars for light yard maintenance work.