Class 42 (Locobase 11435)

Data from "Locomotive Building," The Railroad Gazette, Volume XLI, No 14 (5 October 1906), p. 88; and D&SL 1 -1932 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. (Thanks to Thomas Harper for his 9 October 2021 email describing the 100's 1919 boiler explosion.) Works numbers were 29204-29205 in February 1905, 37709 in May 1905.

After their arrival on the DNW&P, the trio received thicker tires that increased driver diameter to 57" (1,448 mm).

This railway was renamed Denver & Salt Lake in 1912.

Thomas Harper's grandfather was at the controls of engine 100 in January 1919 when its boiler suddenly exploded so violently that "landed over 250 feet up the track." Tom has written an account of the disaster that Locobase reproduces in full to illustrate the hazards of early 20th-century steam railroading:

"I redid this a bit for readability; you may quote it as needed, so long as it is not edited so as to materially change the overall story. (Not that I would expect that, just a general caution on my part.)

On the morning of January 22. 1919, Denver & Salt Lake engine No. 100 with 7 freight cars was in the mountains northwest of Denver, heading towards Rollins Pass and approaching the Needle's Eye tunnel, when the boiler exploded; the engineer (Thomas Carlin) was killed instantly, the fireman (R. P. Proctor) shortly afterwards succumbed to his injuries, and the brakeman (W. F. Behringer) was seriously injured.

It was reported that the explosion was so powerful that the boiler was blown from the running gear, landing approximately 250 feet up the tracks; also, that it was heard in Tolland, southwest (straight-line) about 5 miles and at 2400 feet lower elevation.

My maternal grandfather was the engineer, Thomas Carlin; he left a wife & 5 children, the youngest of whom were barely toddlers. The story passed to me by my mother & aunt gives depth to the tragedy ...

No. 100 was in the shop, but the mechanic didn't want to release it for service due to a water level gauge which would intermittently stick, showing the water level to be higher than it actually was. At that time the gauge was working, but the root cause hadn't been found & fixed; the mechanic wanted to keep it in the shop to find the problem. The engine was needed for a special freight, and since the gauge wasn't misbehaving the foreman ordered the mechanic to send it out, overriding objections and (in effect) telling the mechanic that either the engine went out or the mechanic was out of a job. My grandfather also had reservations about taking the engine out, but was told the engine was fit for service and he was offered the same choice given the mechanic, so he took the run.

At the inquiry the mechanic was pressured to testify that there was no problem with #100 when it was sent out; the official conclusion was that "operator error" (or the equivalent) was the cause. Furthering the tragedy, it was said the mechanic was so guilt- and grief-stricken that he was institutionalized not long afterwards, eventually committing suicide.

Two of the newspaper stories of the time which I have found indicated that No. 100 was thought of as a "hoodoo", having a reputation for being troublesome; it was reported to have chronic problems with the injector valves and slipped tires."

It was not unheard of to repair a locomotive that suffered such damage and the D&SL put the 100 back in service/

Numbers unchanged, the three Consolidations remained on the roster until scrapped in May 1937.

Class 44 - 1905 (Locobase 16416)

Data from D&SL 1 - 1932 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. See also Hugh G Boutell, "Railroading in Colorado", Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 21, No 5 (May 1908), p. Works numbers were 39947-39949 in May 1905, 41617-41618 in November 1906, and 45576-45579 in October 1908.

The first nine of the Class 44 55" Consolidations were delivered with slide valves. They were sturdy locomotives. Hugh Boutell wasn't bowled over when he rode behind one during his Colorado excursions. Reporting that this relatively new "Moffat Route" was supposed "cross the Rockies on an easier grade than any other system, but it looked plenty stiff to me" and that one Consolidation was hard-pressed to manage the light excursion train. He also noted that at that time, the DNW&P "abound[ed] with snow sheds" and owned the largest snow plow in the world

By the D&SL's 1932 table, four of the class--104-107--still ran with inside link motion and slide valves. 103's valve chest had a piston valve in a bolt-on update. The last three had been updated to match the 1910 locomotives in using outside Walschaert gear. They all had the Universal piston valve chest modification.

Class 44 - 1910 (Locobase 11470)

Data from "Locomotive Building," The Railway Age Gazette, Vol XLVIII, No 13 (1 April 1910), p. 923. Works numbers were 48148-48149 in July 1910 and 48150, 48242-48250 in August.

Adding to the Consolidation stud that had already been assembled (see Locobase 16416), this batch adopted Walschaert outside constant-lead radial valve gear. This railway was renamed Denver & Salt Lake at the very end of 1912.

Class C2 (Locobase 12803)

Data from D&SL 1 -1932 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection.

Originally delivered in 1910 with saturated boilers as part of the 44 class (Locobase 11470), three underwent upgrades All three were fitted with the Univeral piston valve in a bolt-on assembly that occupied the spaces vacated by slide valves. 119 and 122's boilers received superheaters in May 1925. 118 was fitted with both a superheater and a Worthington feed water heater in February 1927.

Class C2/C-43 (Locobase 1463)

Data from 1952 D & RGW locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange and []

The original delivery of these Consolidations to the Denver, North Western & Pacific in August-September 1910 as saturated-steam locomotives is shown in Locobase 12803.

By the time the Denver & Rio Grande gained nine of the engines in a 1947 merger, they had been superheated as shown in this entry. Soon after their acquisition, the D & RGW began retiring them in 1949 with the last retired in 1952.

Class E M Cummings (Locobase 12053)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 18, p 114. Works numbers were 13058 in November 1892 and 13275 in March 1893.

D & S was a contracting firm that bought this pair of small, low-drivered Consolidations.

They sold the 23 to the Charleston, Clendennin & Sutton of West Virginia. There followed a string of sales for the 23: CC & S to the Coal & Coke Railroad in May 1903 as their #9. The C & C operated the engine for more than 15 years before selling the 9 to Middle Creek Railroad in 1919, where it was renumbered 4.

The 24 was sold to the McDonald & Onderdonk, New York City contractors. Some time later, M & O sold the engine to the locomotive rebuilder/reseller Birmingham Rail & Locomotive. BR & L rebuilt the 24 with 20" cylinders and sold the locomotive to the Davidson Ingram Lumber Company of Houston, Tex. The DILC sold the engine to Benford Lumber inVirginia and that company later sold it to the Mardez Lumber.