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Rio Grande 268 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1882. It is one of three surviving locomotives in D&RG class 60.
At the start of the 1880s, the Denver & Rio Grande was expanding rapidly. [4] [5] [6] Major lines extended south toward Santa Fe, southwest toward Silverton and west to the Utah state line. [7] As a result, the railroad placed several orders for 2-8-0s from Baldwin and Grant Locomotive Works. 268 was one of an order of 30 locomotives in August 1881, and was completed in January of the next year. [3] [8]
268 spent most of its working life around Gunnison, Colorado, with an early photograph showing it in helper service on the mainline to Montrose. [7] Other early photographs show the engine in Salida and Alamosa. [9] [10]
In the 1800s, D&RGW 268 and her sister engines were the premier motive power for the railroad, hauling passenger trains and top-priority freight trains. [11] [5] Decades later, in the 20th century, the aging narrow-gauge engine was relegated to low-priority trains on secondary and branch lines.
As early as 1945, 268 was recognized for its historic significance when it featured on the Rio Grande's 75th Anniversary Tour. [12] Again in 1949, the engine was featured at the Chicago World's Fair, this time in a version of the road's diesel colors of yellow and silver with black stripes. The engine featured in the 1952 film Denver and Rio Grande before returning to ordinary service in the Gunnison area. The engine's final run for the D&RGW was in 1954. It was used by a contractor in 1955 to scrap branch lines out of Gunnison, Colorado. [11]
After its retirement, 268 was donated to the city of Gunnison, Colorado. It featured in Colorado's centennial celebrations in 1959, then moved to its current location at the Gunnison Pioneer Museum in 1964. [12] The engine today is cosmetically restored in its yellow and silver paint scheme. [5]
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad was a historic 3 ft narrow gauge railroad that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th century. The railroad opened up the first rail routes to a large section of the central Colorado mining district in the decades of the mineral boom. The railroad took its name from the fact that its main line from Denver ascended the Platte Canyon and traversed South Park, hence its popular name "The South Park Line." Despite its lofty goals, the line never connected itself with the Pacific or any transcontinental line, apart from its terminal at Denver Union Station.
The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 45.2 mi (72.7 km) of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a federally-designated National Historic Landmark and was also designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968.
The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum. The museum is located on 15 acres (6.1 ha) at a point where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden, Colorado.
The Ghost Town & Calico Railway is a 3 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad and amusement park attraction within Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park located in Buena Park, California.
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the US state of Colorado, from the towns of Durango to Ridgway, routed via Lizard Head Pass. Built by German immigrant and Colorado toll road builder Otto Mears, the RGS operated from 1891 through 1951 and was built with the intent to transport immense amounts of silver mineral traffic that were being produced by the mining communities of Rico and Telluride. On both ends of the railroad, there were interchanges with The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which would ship the traffic the RGS hauled elsewhere like the San Juan Smelter in Durango.
The D&RG Narrow Gauge Trestle, also known as the Cimarron Canyon trestle, is a narrow-gauge railroad deck truss bridge crossing the Cimarron River near Cimarron, Colorado. Located within the Curecanti National Recreation Area, the trestle is the last remaining railroad bridge along the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad's Black Canyon route, a narrow-gauge passenger and freight line that traversed the famous Black Canyon of the Gunnison between 1882 and the 1940s.
The Colorado and Southern Railway was an American Class I railroad in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908, then as part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until it was absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1981.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western K-36 is a class of ten 3 ft narrow gauge 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) by Baldwin Locomotive Works. They were shipped to the Rio Grande in 1925 and were first used along the Monarch Branch and Marshall Pass, but were later sent to the Third Division out of Alamosa. Of the original ten, four are owned by the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) and five by the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TSRR). Number 485 fell into the turntable pit at Salida and was scrapped in Pueblo in 1955, with many parts being saved.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western K-27 is a class of 3 ft narrow gauge 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1903. Known by their nickname "Mudhens," they were the first and the most numerous of the four K classes of Rio Grande narrow gauge engines to be built. Of the original fleet of 15 locomotives, two survive to this day and operate on heritage railways in the United States. No. 463 is operational on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TSRR) in Chama, New Mexico and No. 464 is currently out of service due to a rebuild on the Huckleberry Railroad in Genesee Township, Michigan.
The Utah Division of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) is a rail line that connects Grand Junction, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah in the Western United States. It is now incorporated into the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) system as part of the Central Corridor. The modern Union Pacific has split the line into two subdivisions for operational purposes, the Green River Subdivision between Grand Junction and Helper, Utah and the Provo Subdivision from Helper to Salt Lake City. Daily passenger service is provided by Amtrak's California Zephyr; the BNSF Railway and Utah Railway have trackage rights over the line.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western K-37 is a class of 2-8-2 "Mikado" type narrow-gauge steam locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. They were new steam locomotives built in the D&RGW Burnham Shops as a near copy of the Rio Grande class K-36. In-house production was chosen to preemptively address material shortages and personnel issues. Burnham Shops was assisted in the construction of the class by the Stearn-Rogers Manufacturing Company. The class recycled components from Baldwin Locomotive Works-built Class 19 2-8-0 locomotives used on the Rio Grande's standard gauge; re-using the boiler, tender and other components salvaged from the C-41's. The engine components were constructed new for the locomotive class.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western K-28 is a class of ten 3 ft gauge narrow gauge 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotives built in 1923 by the Schenectady Locomotive Works of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. They were the first new narrow gauge locomotives ordered by the railroad since 1903. They initially comprised class E-4-148-S, but were reclassified K-28 in 1924 when the railroad reorganized into the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.
Denver and Rio Grande Western No. 315 is a class "C-18" 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive that was originally built for the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1895. It was purchased by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) in 1917 and later became known as No. 315. It was retired in 1949 and had been on display at City of Durango parks until the Durango Railroad Historical Society restored the locomotive from 2001 to August 2007. It was operational from then until September 2021. On March 8, 2023, it has returned to service, following its FRA federally mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection and overhaul. Most "sister" locomotives to No. 315 were scrapped, but two others survive today: D&RGW No. 318, on display at the Colorado Railroad Museum; and F&CC No. 10, currently in storage at the Nevada Southern Railroad Museum.
Denver and Rio Grande Western No. 169 is a 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" type narrow gauge steam locomotive. It is one of twelve similar locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RGW) by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1883. It was built as a passenger locomotive, with 46 in (1,200 mm) drivers, the second largest drivers used on any three-foot gauge D&RGW locomotive.
Denver and Rio Grande Western No. 168 is a class "T-12" 4-6-0 “Ten Wheeler” type narrow-gauge steam locomotive. It is one of twelve similar locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1883. It was built as a passenger locomotive, with 46 in (1,200 mm) drivers, the largest drivers used on any three-foot gauge D&RGW locomotive. The large drivers made it suitable for relatively fast passenger service.
Denver and Rio Grande Western 223 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad by the Grant Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey in 1881–82. Number 223 was completed in December 1881, at a cost of $11,553. Rio Grande 223 is the only surviving narrow-gauge engine built by Grant Locomotive Works. D&RGW 223 and the other Class 60 engines were part of the Rio Grande's expansion into Colorado and Utah in the 1880s.
Grant Locomotive Works was a manufacturer of steam railway locomotives from 1867 to 1895, first in Paterson, New Jersey, and then in Chicago. The company built about 1,888 locomotives.
Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad No. 463 is a 3-foot narrow-gauge class "K-27" 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1903. It is one of two remaining Rio Grande K-27 locomotives, the other one being No. 464 at the Huckleberry Railroad in Genesee Township, Michigan. The class eventually became known by the nickname "Mudhens". Today, No. 463 is operational on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad between Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado.
The San Juan Express was a narrow gauge train that ran on the 3 feet (0.91 m) Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) route from Durango, Colorado via Chama, New Mexico; Cumbres Pass; and Antonito, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado. The train ran from February 11, 1937 until January 31, 1951 as train numbers 115 and 116, though towards the end of the passenger service it took on the number 215 and 216.