Class 101/93/C-21 (Locobase 16449)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p. 63. For the history of the Crystal River & San Juan Railway, see "Crystal River Railway/Railway - Crystal River & San Juan" on the Rio Grande Info website at [], last accessed 26 September 2019. For the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, see Jonathan H Rees, " Colorado Fuel & Iron", Colorado Encyclopedia at [], last accessed 26 September 2019. Works numbers were 17717 in May 1900 (road# 102) and 17872 in June (road# 101)

The Crystal Railway narrow-gauge railway was effectively built twice. Incorporated in 1892, the railway extended southward down the Crystal River to connect to the coal reserves at Redstone. The 1893 Panic and resulting recession put paid to that effort and the line was converted to standard gauge. Reorganized as the Crystal River Railroad, the new 11.9 mile (19.2 km) Coalbasin Branch (aka High Line) linked Redstone's coke ovens to the mine at Coalbasin.

Jonathan Rees wrote that the parent CF&I "pioneered welfare capitalism", forming the "Sociological Department" in 1901 to oversee "support in all aspects of employees lives " in order to improve morale and loyalty."

These two small narrow-gauge Consolidations entered service in 1900 after being ordered by the CR Rwy's owner, Colorado Fuel and Iron.. They featured relatively wide grates for such a skinny gauge and their tubes' external diameters measured 2 1/2" (63.5 mm), a rare size and larger by 1/4-1/2" than more typical tubes.

Although the two Consolidations in this entry and the somewhat larger 103 (Locobase 6818) were bought new, the Branch didn't fare well. "The Coalbasin Branch (as well as the Coalbasin Mine and Redstone coking ovens) shut down extremely abruptly on 12-Jan-1909 for an unknown reason" notes the Rio Grande Info website account.

After they lay idle for several years, the pair's second careers began in 1916 when the Denver & Rio Grande acquired them, renumbered them 430-431, and created class 93 to describe them.

When the railroad became the Denver, Rio Grande & Western in 1924, that railway reclassified them C-21 and renumbered them 360-361. The C-21s served the narrow-gauge lines until the late 1940s. 360 was scrapped in Salida in August 1950, 361 in Pueblo in November 1951.

NB: The data for the firebox in Baldwin's 1896 Vanegas Rwy 2-8-0 shown in Locobase 11909 were identical to the 1/4"in all respects to the dimensions in the CR Rwy pair shown here. The firebox heating surface area in the earlier locomotive came from the Mexican Narrow Gauge locomotives diagrams. So the area given in this entry should be treated as approximately, but likely to have come within a few square feet of this entry.

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Class 103/C-25-112 (Locobase 6818)

Data from D&RGW 12 - 1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 25, p. 222. Works number was 21757 in March 1903.

Like the pair of 1900 Consolidations described in Locobase 16449, this somewhat larger 2-8-0 was ordered by the CR Rwy's owner, Colorado Fuel and Iron. In the original spec, the railroad notified the builder that the 103 could expect 4% grades and 40 deg. In parentheses next to this rugged profile, the spec reads "consider this in connection with center of gravity.").

Baldwin's spec reveals a wide (50"/1,270 mm) firebox for the gauge; indeed, it was wider than many standard-gauge locomotives of the day. It was also short, which reduced grate area substantially. The firebox's thermic syphon (11 sq ft/1.02 sq m) was a later addition as part of a rearrangement that deleted 3 of the original 202 tubes.

The CR became the Crystal River & San Juan in 1910. The 103 became the property of the narrow-gauge component of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in 1916. It was nicknamed "Baby Mudhen", signfying its affinity with the K-27 Baldwin Mikados (Locobase 3753) also produced in 1903.

Renumbered twice, the 375 remained in service through World War II and was scrapped in June 1949.

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Class 113/C-28S (Locobase 1453)

[], data from D&RGW 12 -1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 14, p. 43, Volume 15, p.206, and Volume 16, p. 109. See also Bruce A. Metcalf's Colorado Consols web site at []. Works numbers were:

1887

8950, 8953-8954, 8958-8959 in December

1888

9088-9090, 9093-9094 in March; 9617, 9619-9620, 9626 in November

1889

9745, 9747, 9751-9752, 9754-9755 in January; 10395-10398, 10401 in October; 10480-10481 in December

1890

11202, 11207, 11222-11223, 11229 in September; 11236-11239, 11243-11245, 11249, 11251-11252, 11254-11263, 11271, 11279. 11282 in October

1891

11904-11905, 11908, 11911-11912, 11924 in May; 12005-12006 in June; 12013, 12037-12038

12043, 12050, 12058-12060, 12064, 12073, 12087, 12095 in July.

Large group of very small standard-gauge Consolidations that ran on light track until the late 1930s in some instances. (According to Metcalf, the class average was 42 years of service.) The original Baldwin specifications called for 258 boiler tubes, which would have yielded 1,902 sq ft (176.75 sq m). (See Locobase 7366 for the Denver,Texas & Fort Worth Consolidations that retained 258 tubes for their careers.) The last order (for road numbers 582-629) specified 241 tubes. The tube count shown in Locobase's specs are of much later vintage.

The estimated weights were 107,000 lb (48,534 kg) on the drivers and 120,000 lb (54,432 kg) for the engine, but later penned-in figures labeled "actual" showed weights very close to those shown above. Unlike the C-26s, which came over from the Rio Grande Western (Locobase 3045), the C-28s never mounted taller drivers.

Engine numbers reflect D&RGW renumbering in 1924.

As befit the size of the class, retirements occurred over a two-decade span. Some were sold to other railroads. Four -- 633, 683, 688, 657 -- went to the San Luis Valley Southern as 104, 106, 105, and 103, respectively, a southern Colorado railroad that measured about 31 miles.

668 and 661 were sold in 1916 to the Indian Valley -- a shortline in Plumas County, California -- as 2 & 1, respectively, and were the only locomotives on this line during its 20-year lifetime. They were scrapped in December 1939 when the railroad closed.

597 to the Deep Creek Railroad (46 miles from Wendover to Gold Hill, Utah); 621 to the Colorado Kansas Railway as #2.

581 served the Colorado & Southeastern as their #1 from its sale in June 1903; they didn't need much more as the line consisted of two discontinuous pieces that together measured 7.6 miles.

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Class 185/C-41 (Locobase 1460)

Data from 1937 D & RGW locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 23, p. 122 and [] . (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 10 April 2015 email noting the original BP, estimated weights, and tender capacities.) Works numbers were 18180-18182, 18204-18205, 18216-18218, 18236-18239 in September 1900; 18282-18284 in October 1900.

These Consolidations were delivered with boiler pressures set at 200 psi as shown. Resetting the working pressure to 190 psi raised the factor of adhesion. Also, the original specs included estimated weights of 168,000 lb on the drivers and 188,000 lb overall.

Most retired in the 1936-1939 years, but 956 hung on until 1946. 955 was converted to a 2-8-0T tank engine in 1937 and soldiered on until 1946. Engine numbers reflect D&RGW renumbering in 1924.

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Class 187/C-39 (Locobase 1458)

[] . Data from D&RGW 12 -1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 27, p. 215. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 12 January email detailing several additions (tender capacity), omissions, and errors (road number range) and for a follow-up that noted an incongruous of coal and water capacities in the specs.)) Works numbers were 26006, 26024, 26039, 26050, 26069-26070, 26102, 26108 in July 1905; 26154-26155 in August.

Similar to the 1902 C-38 Consolidations. Chris Hohl noted that the first five locomotives used standard U-tank tenders after which the latter five trailed circular Vanderbilt tenders. The ten engines originally formed class 187. After the boiler pressure was reset to 190 psi. .the class was redesignated in 1924 according to their wheel arrangement (C) and tractive effort in thousands of pounds.

Hohl reports that the firebox heating surface area in the Baldwin specs is 217 sq ft (20.16 sq m). Locobase compared the dimensions in the specs with the later Rio Grande diagram and found them to be identical. He found nothing in the original specification to explain the difference in area. Baldwin's adhesion and engine weight estimates noted by Hohl represent an unusual, and unusually wide of the mark, set of overestimates. Both adhesion and engine weights were too high by more than 7 tons.

Retired over a decade from 1936-1946. Engine numbers reflect D&RGW renumbering in 1924.

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Class 56N (Locobase 1452)

Data from [] . See also Bruce A.Metcalf's Colorado Consols website and See also Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines, as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 8 p. 152. Works numbers were 4191-4192 in October 1877;

4382, 4384-4385 in July 1878 and 4504-4505 in December;

4809 in October 1879;

4974, 4976, 4981, 4984-4986 in February 1880; 4990, 4992, 5002, 5006, 5008, 5011, 5018, 5021-5023 in March; 5039-5041, 5051, 5069 in April; 5096, 5098, 5102-5103 in May; 5132-5133, 5136-5138, 5156, 5164, 5166 in June; 5184-5185, 5200 in July; 5225-5226 in August; 5258 in September; 5373-5374 in November; and 5423 in December.

(Note: Works numbers 4618, 4621-4623 in April 1879 were built for the Rio Grande but delivered to the Silver City Deming & Pacific Railroad.)

The locomotives' names and road numbers were:

Mosca(2nd) 24, Hardscrabble 25, Old Baldy 30, Dolores 31, Kit Carson 32, Silver Cliff 33, Royal Gorge 34, Piedra 37, Texas Creek 44, Mojanda 45, Bandito 46, Current Creek 48, Gold Town 47, Badger 49, South Arkansas 51, Crestones 50, Music Pass 52, Cottonwood 53, Ruby Camp 54, Tomichi 55, Buffalo Peaks 56, Chalk Creek 57, Fryer Hill 58, Hoosier 59, Mosquito Gulch 60, La Jara 61, San Antonio 62, Mount Aggasiz 63, Tres Piedras 64, San Cristobal 65, Bristol Head 66, Weminuche 67, Vermego 68 (Vermejo), Arroya Honda 69, Sierra Madre 70, Pacific Slope 71(1st), Piedra 72, Sneffels 73, Bill Williams 84, Hermano 74, Uncompahagre 75, U S Mountain 76, Rinconida 77, Chico 80, Sandia 78, La Plata 79, Puerco 81, Colo-Chiquito 82, and Sera La Sal 83

Large class of Consolidations that operated for many years on the narrow gauge lines of the Denver & Rio Grande. By 1904, 33 of the original had seen boiler pressure increase to 140 psi and had larger, 37" drivers. The combination increased tractive effort to 13,025 lb.

Piedra, Sneffels, and US Mountain (72, 73, and 76) were sold in February 1900 to Morenci Southern Railway as its 1-3.

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Class 60 /B-4-D-R (Locobase 11797)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 11, p. 33. (Thanks to Gary Everhart for his 1 February 2021 email noting errors in the road number and works numbers sequences.) Works numbers 5895-5896, 5917, 5919, 5923-5924 in November 1881; 5945, 5951, 5956-5957, 5967-5968 in December; 5991, 5995-5996, 5998, 6000-6003, 6011-6014, 6024, 6028 in January 1882; 6030-6032, 6037, 6048-6049, 6051, 6057 in February; 6070-6071, 6073, 6077, 6095, 6097, 6109-6110 in March; 6145-6146 in April.

See Locobase 1462 for a description of this large class, which included 30 from Grant Locomotive Works. The 1882 Baldwins added 15 small tubes and installed a larger firebox hosting a larger grate.

Works numbers 6134 and 6140 were diverted before delivery to the Baltimore & Delta; see Locobase 11798.

Nine of the class were converted to standard gauge: 289-291, 294-295 in 1890, 287 in 1891, 279 in 1892, 275 in 1893, and 277 in 1898.

283 (Baldwin works 6057) arrived on the Nevada County Narrow Gauge gold road in 1933, where it operated until the railroad closed in 1942. See [], last accessed 28 June 2012 for details.

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Class 60N/C-16 (Locobase 1462)

Data from [] and DeGolyer, Volume 10, p. 197. See also Bruce A Metcalf's Colorado Consols web site. Additional data from D&RGW 12 - 1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Also see [], accessed 26 May 2006, which tells us that Grant delivered 30 of the class while Baldwin (then officially Burnham, Parry & Williams) supplied the other 66. For the slightly larger Baldwins of 1882, see Locobase 11797.

Miniature Consolidation class that operated in some cases until the early 1920s. 27 of these later received 37" (940 mm) drivers and increased boiler pressure to 145 psi (10 bar), which yielded 14,990 lb (6,799 kg or 66.68 kN) of tractive effort. The data in this entry appear to reflect standardization on an updated boiler that was a bit smaller than the original, but tolerant of higher pressures.

Paul T. Warner, Baldwin historian, writing in the company history reproduced in Westing (1966), quotes the Denver & Rio Grande railway's General Superintendent on the Alamosa's performance on the steeply graded and curvy Garland extension. His comments show that a typical train would be 7-8 passenger cars and a baggage car netting 85-100 tons exclusive of engine and running at a scheduled time of 1:20 for the 14 1/2 mile run from Garland to Veta Pass. Alamosa, the first of this class, was the first 2-8-0 on the DR&G.

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Class 70/C-19 (Locobase 15812)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 10, p. 196; and D&RGW 12 - 1937 and D&RGW 1 - 1952 diagram books supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also Jeff Taylor's comments on the NGdiscussion forum beginning with a post on 27 December 2011 at [],207020,207070#msg-207070; and Jeff Johnson, "C-19 Locomotive History - The Colorado Classic", Blackstone Models website at [], last accessed 27 September 2019 (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 5 April 2015 email noting that the tender's fuel capacity was missing.) Works numbers were 5571-5572, 5603-5604 in April 1881, 5630-5633 in May; 5712, 5713, 5730-5731 in July; 5755-5756 in August; 5845, 5850, 5857, 5860 in October.

Jeff Johnson's account sets the stage for these dozen freighters by noting the benefits of the Consolidation wheel arrangement displayed by the earlier, smaller Class 56 and 60 locomotives (Locobase 1452 and Locobase 1462, respectively). "[I]t was time for Baldwin to push the limit a little more within the same general design in an effort to maximize the railroad's stable of power." New railroad construction included the Cumbres Pass, whose 4% grades joined those of the Marshall Pass and Cerro Summit in taxing the existing stud.

All of the principal dimensions--areas, tube count and length, cylinder volume, weight--were enlarged to some extent. The result was an engine with good balance among the ratios and increased adhesion. Their initial tour of duty was primarily as helper engines on the Salida-Gunnison segment, which included the Marshall Pass, but even in those early years, also included heading up freights. In this latter service, they worked train loads weighing 10-12 tons more over the 4% passes.

These little Consolidations had names when they entered service; in road number order, the names were Green River, Grand River, Shoshone, Roaring Forks, Sevier, Utah, Cumbres, Old Rube, Marshall Pass, Red Cliff (later Red Buttes), Treasury Mountain, and Quartz Creek. Comparatively minute among contemporary 2-8-0s elsewhere, these "were considered relative giants among the diamond stacks in their early days," writes Johnson,"and ...enginemen were all too aware of their good fortune to have been assigned such a fine piece of machinery."

Like the rest of the Rio Grande's narrow-gauge stud, these engines remained in service for decades.

Five of the class--401, 402, 405, 410, 411--were converted to standard-gauge running in the late 1880s, placed in the 74 class, and renumbered 803, 800, 804, 801, 802 respectively. After a decade or so, the Rio Grande returned the quintet to a 3-foot gauge in 1898 and 1900.

Safety standards set by the Interstate Commerce Commission led to fitting new boilers to the class in 1914. The new 160 psi (11.03 bar) setup included " longer, extended smoke boxes, early electric headlights, and straight shotgun style smokestacks", writes Johnson. The 30 psi (2.07 bar) increase raised tractive effort to 19,342 lb (8,773 kg or 86.0 kN).

6The 803 became the 405, a number it retained until it was wrecked in July 1951 and scrapped two months later. 800 was renumbered 401 and the 801 and run until scrapped in January 1939. The RG sold the 804 in December 1926 to the Colorado & Southwestern as their 3. They sold the engine to the Montezuma Lumber Company in 1935, which renumbered it 346. The MLC sold the 346 to the Narrow Gauge Motel in 1950.

The 340 (formerly 400) and the 409 (formerly 802, and 411) were both sold to the Denver & Rio Grande Southern in 1916 and renumbered 40 and 41. Both wound up in tourist-railroad service when they were sold in August 1995 to Ghost Town & Calico Railroad of the Knotts Berry Farm. In May 2014, David Crosby reported inTrains Magazine that both locomotives were still in operation. In the intervening years, the 41 was renamed for Walter K to commemorate the founder of the park.

Taylor's comment on their 21st Century performance: "And yes they can accelerate the train quite easily, and fast." He also commented that their lower heating surface area compared to the 315 (Florence & Cripple Creek - Locobase 7700) was due to more bracing on the front tube sheet and a wider mud leg.

Operational note: "Once moving I like to run 41 two notches off of center. (Same as Mike May and Sonny when running 315)."

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Class 700 / 199 / C-40 (Locobase 12491)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p.256. Works numbers were 18761-18762, 18778-18780 in March 1901.

The Rio Grande Western took delivery of 10 compounds in 1901. Five were produced by Richmond and used a 2-cylinder cross-compound system. The other five had Vauclain compound cylinders and 12"-diameter piston valves. They would be converted to siimple-expansion engines in 1907; see Locobase 1459.

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Class 75/C-28 (Locobase 16485)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 11, p. 22; and D&RGW 12 - 1937 and D&RGW 1 - 1952 diagram books supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 412-416 in January 1881.

The Baldwin specs for this quintet stated that they duplicates of the narrow-gauge Class 70 produced in the same year and described in Locobase 15812.

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Class B-4-70/C-17-70 (Locobase 6824)

Data from D&RGW 12 - 1937 Folio 10 and 1 - 1952 Folio L Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 13, p. 218. Baldwin works numbers were 8563-8564 in May 1887, 8625-8626, 8629 and 8632 in June, (417-422 and ultimately 300, 303, 304, 301, 302 -- 420 was sold to the Rio Grande Southern in 1916.).

Locobase 15812 describes the dozen Class 70 locomotives delivered to the Denver & Rio Grande in 1881. This entry describes the repeat order contracted by the RGS six years later. The illustration shows a straight boiler with two domes shaped like classical urns, a slightly flared stack and big, oil-fired headlight. The small drivers were unevenly spaced with the space between the first two 15"(381 mm) smaller than the other gaps. The later specs show one less tube and 4 fewer square feet of evaporative heating surface area and the boiler pressure setting was raised to 145 psi (10 bar).

[] (26 May 2006) says that two other locomotives grouped in the class were the ex-Utah Central #1 narrow-gauger, regauged in 1901, renumbered several times, converted back to narrow gauge in 1918 and ultimately numbered 305 in 1924. It was scrapped in 1927. Great Falls of Canada #3 had a similar history as it migrated to the Utah Central before 1898. It was ultimately scrapped in July 1935.

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Class C-26S (Locobase 3045)

Data from D&RGW 12 -1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 15, p. 156. Bruce A. Metcalf's Colorado Consols web site. Works numbers were:

1889

10270, 10272-10273, 10278-10280, 10284-10286, 10289, 10294 in September; 10384-10388, 10390-10393 in October; 10468, 10471 in November; and 10475-10476, 10479 in December.

1891

11584-11585, 11591-11592 in February; 11668-11669 in March; 11771, 11777 in April; 12025-12026, 12033-12034, 12036 in July.

1892

12417, 12421, 12423, 12426, 12431 in January.

The Baldwin specs for the C28 class of Consolidations delivered by Baldwin to the Denver & Rio Grande (Locobase 1453) were essentially identical to the engines shown here. Most were produced with 46" drivers, but according to Metcalf, four were delivered with 47" drivers, which boosted tractive effort to 27,778 lb (Oddly, engine weight seems to decreased to 112,000 lb.). The class sorted itself into two subclasses, the first 25 being delivered with 258 tubes and the last 17 holding 239 tubes. (See Locobase 7366 for the Denver,Texas & Fort Worth Consolidations that retained 258 tubes for their careers.)

As the later Denver & Rio Grande Western diagram shows, all of the locomotives eventually adopted approximately the smaller count.

By Metcalf's calculations, these engines served their Colorado lines for an average of 36 years. As the Denver & Rio Grande Western diagram shows, the later boiler was pressed to a higher degree and the C-26s now rolled on 51" drivers.

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Class C-38 (Locobase 3948)

This small batch of Consolidations was reported with little fanfare in a 1900 Railroad Gazette (Vol XXXII, No 36) article. Works numbers were 3006-3009 in 1900.

The review did comment that these locomotives "rank well up in the list of modern heavy freight locomotives", a mysterious claim given the relatively modest dimensions of this workmanlike design.

See the 1901 C-40 entry for a nearly identical cross-compound variant.

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Class C-40 (Locobase 1459)

Data from D&RGW 12 -1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also []

Preceded the C-38/C-39 classes and had less square cylinder dimensions and a higher BP. A disposition oddity: 930-934 were built by Baldwin as 4-cylinder Vauclain compounds (see Locobase 12491), simpled in 1907, and retired in 1945-1946. 940-944 were built by Alco-Richmond as two-cylinder cross-compounds in the same year; see Locobase 4126.

They were also simpled in 1907, but retired in 1936. Engine numbers reflect D&RGW renumbering in 1924.

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Class C-40 (Locobase 4126)

Data from Massive cross-compounds built for the RGW and profiled in Richmond Compound Locomotives for the Rio Grande Western", Railroad Gazette, Volume 33, No 26 ( 28 June 1901), p. 451. Works numbers were 3184-3188 in 1901.

Very similar simple-expansion engines had been procured a year earlier. RG comments on the deceptive scale of these engines, their real bulk being apparent only when one compares it to an older design. Three items that had shrunk to accommodate the larger boiler in the loading gauge were the dome, the stack, and the headlight (RG colorfully described the dome as "crushed between the overhead clearances and the rising top of the chell until all vestige of its earlier greatness, when it rivaled the boiler in diameter, has disappeared."). What RG didn't predict was just how much smaller all three would get as engines grew still larger.

These Mellin cross-compounds had a very large cylinder volume, with the LP cylinder still not large enough to handle all the HP steam. At 1.6, the compounding ratio was much lower than usually prescribed for compounds.

Although it's not clear from Locobase's sources, these probably reverted to simple expansion in just a few years.

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Class C-41 (Locobase 10761)

Data from Angus Sinclair, Twentieth Century Locomotives (New York: Railway and Locomotive Engineering, 1904), pp.572-574. See also DeGolyer, Volume 24, p. 260+. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 2 February 2023 email supplying the correct coal capacity and loaded tender weight.) Works numbers were 20519-20522, 20550, 20609-20611, 20640-20641, 20666-20668, 20695-20698, 20746-20753, 20829-20831, 20872-20873.

These large Vauclain balanced compound Consolidations were bought to operate on the road between Denver, Pueblo, and Salida. The first leg covered 120 miles (193 km) and surmounted the South Platte-Arkansas River divide. The next section consisted of an almost 1/2 mile (2,569 feet/783 m) rise over 67 miles (108 km and an average of 0.7%) from Pueblo to Palmer Lake, at which the railroad ascended another 2,039 feet (621 m) in the next 53 miles (85 km, also 0.7%). And Pueblo to Salida was no less challenging, a continuous rise of 2,378 feet (725 m) that included grades as steep as 1.42% and no less than 0.66%.

Baldwin's answer included the introduction of a wide firebox (but shallow) to the D & RG. The HP-LP cylinder groupings were fed by the same 12" (305 mm) diameter balanced piston valve. A 31 December 1902 "hereafter" note highlights a potentially serious shortcoming in the design, however: "These engines on a 3% grade have the front end of crown sheet barely covered. Correct hereafter."

Apparently, the road could be a bit rough, too and these locomotives betrayed every weakness .The supplemental notes recommend such modifications as making the motion and spring hangers heavier and strengthening the reach rod ends. The railroad reported that both the spring hanger and equalizer pins were "wearing and give a great deal of trouble." Pins, links & hangers "get loose and give trouble." Stress seems to have popped up everywhere: "All journals on both engine and tender and main crank pin to be fitted with cooling pipes, each side to be operated separately."

Chris Hohl noted that the

These were later simpled and superheated; see Locobase 1461.

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Class C-41-190-superheated (Locobase 1461)

Data from 1937 D & RGW locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

These engines were built as four-cylinder Vauclain compounds; see Locobase 10761.

They were modified in 1907 as simple-expansion locomotives with two 21"x30" cylinders and a TE of 40,893 lb. Engine numbers reflect D&RGW renumbering in 1924.

They were disposed of in several ways. Most were scrapped over many years, others became 0-8-0s and still others were converted to narrow-gauge operation as K-37 2-8-2s. For these last, see Locobase 9466.

[]

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Class C-42/C-38 (Locobase 1457)

Data from "Consolidations for the Rio Grande Western," Locomotive Engineering, Vol XIII, No 9 (September 1900), p. 395.

Consolidations that used 200 psi as originally delivered, but that was later reduced to 185. Retired in 1936-1948. Built in two sets 4 engines: the first 4 with 51" drivers and 41,785 TE, engine weight of 179,600 lb (970-973 as renumbered); the latter 4 (renumbered as 900-903) had the specified driver diameter and weight. Engine numbers reflect D&RGW renumbering in 1924.

[] gives an odd change to 19 x 24" cylinders for 900-903, which given the driver diameter, would have required a BP of 290 psi, much too much boiler pressure to have been likely for these mundane freight haulers.

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Class C-48 (Locobase 11424)

Data from "Locomotive Building," The Railroad Gazette, Vol XLIII [43], No 21 (22 November 1907), p 636. Works numbers were Schenectady (39013-39022, 39329-39337 in July 1906, 40125-40134 in September, 40522-40531 in October. Brooks works numbers 44920-44947 in January 1908.

These smaller Consolidations were built for both the Denver & Rio Grande (48 of which 11311150 were produced in 1906, 1151-1178 in 1908) and Rio Grande Western (20 in 1906, numbered 1180-1199). They were used in Minturn-Malta (Tennessee Pass), Colorado through-freight service, averaging 942 freight ton-miles (532 metric tons/km) per locomotive mile in January 1917 between Denver and Salida (ruling grade 1.42%).

They were replaced in that service by the 2-10-2s described in a Railway Age Gazette article of 3 August 1917 (Locobase 429). Most of this class was superheated; see Locobase 430.

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Class C-48 - superheated (Locobase 430)

Data from D&RGW 12 - 1937 Folio 10 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

After the C-44s (Locobase 11424) were displaced from Tennessee Pass service by the new 2-10-2s, they were not finished operating on the railroad.

In fact, many were superheated and fitted with 58 sq ft (5.39 sq m) of thermic syphons. (Those that didn't have syphons had 212 2" tubes vs the 193 found in the syphon engines.) Heating surface data describes those 21 later fitted with thermic syphons. Somewhat unusually, the rebuild also meant that boiler pressure increased from 200 psi to 215 psi

As rebuilt, 20 had Baker gear, 28 had Walschaert. Thus reequipped, the class carried on until retirement in 1949-1955.