Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge

Motive Power Roster

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Check out DRGW.net to see a complete Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge locomotive roster

HawkinsRails thanks beloved pal Gordon Payne for sharing his DSNG motive images

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Steam

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brochure / collection


Durango & Silverton #476

  • builder:ALCO Schenectady
  • arrangement:2-8-2 "Mikado"
  • class:K-28
  • built:Sep 1923, Alco #64987
  • fuel:oil / water
  • notes:
  • 18x22" cylinders, 44" drivers, 200 psi
  • blt Denver & Rio Grande Western #476
    to Durango & Silverton #476, 1981
  • builder

    Durango & Silverton #478

  • builder:ALCO Schenectady
  • arrangement:2-8-2 "Mikado"
  • class:K-28
  • built:Sep 1923, Alco #64989
  • fuel:oil / water
  • notes:
  • 18x22" cylinders, 44" drivers, 200 psi
  • blt Denver & Rio Grande Western #478
    to Durango & Silverton #478, 1981
  • builder
    tag_jump

    See our Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauage Museum scrapbook for complete #478 coverage

    Durango & Silverton #480

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-8-2 "Mikado"
  • class:K-36
  • built:Jul 1925, Baldwin #58558
  • fuel:oil / water
  • notes:
  • 20x24" cylinders, 44" drivers, 195 psi
  • blt Denver & Rio Grande Western #480
    to Durango & Silverton #480, 1981
  • builder
    dsng480_clipping1

    from Cinders & Smoke: A Guide to the D&SNRG
    by Doris Osterwald - 1986 / collection

    Durango & Silverton #482

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-8-2 "Mikado"
  • class:K-36
  • built:Jul 1925, Baldwin #58541
  • fuel:oil / water
  • notes:
  • 20x24" cylinders, 44" drivers, 195 psi
  • blt Denver & Rio Grande Western #482
    to Cumbres & Toltec Scenic #482
    to Durango & Silverton #482, 1981
  • builder

    Durango & Silverton #486

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-8-2 "Mikado"
  • class:K-36
  • built:Aug 1925, Baldwin #58587
  • fuel:soft coal / water
  • notes:
  • 20x24" cylinders, 44" drivers, 195 psi
  • blt Denver & Rio Grande Western #486
    to Cañon City CO static display, 1967
    to Durango & Silverton #486, 1999
    to Durango Museum display
  • builder

    tag_closeup Class K-37 Mikes

    egyptian lass K-37 steam locomotives were originally built in 1902 by Baldwin Locomotive Works as standard gauge Denver & Rio Grande Class 190 steam engines. During the railroad's renumbering and reclassing of 1924, the engines became Rio Grande's Class C-41. Between 1928 and 1930, the D&RGW's own Burnham Shops rebuilt these Mikados into the narrow gauge K-37 class. Ten steamers made up the class, numbers 490-499. Four such locomotives have been on the Durango & Silverton roster since 1981.

    slrt_clipping1961

    from Steam Locomotive & Railroad Tradition #8 - Jun 1961 / collection

    Durango & Silverton #493

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • rebuilder:D&RGW Burhham Shops
  • arrangement:2-8-2 "Mikado"
  • class:K-37
  • built:blt 1908, rebuilt 1928
  • fuel:oil / water
  • notes:
  • 20x24" cylinders, 44" drivers, 200 psi
  • blt Denver & Rio Grande Western #190
    rblt to narrow gauge, Burnham Shops
    to Denver & Rio Grande Western #493
    to Durango & Silverton #493, 1981
  • builder
    dsng493q1 dsng493q2 dsng493q3

    May 2023 / RWH

    icon_wikipedia

    The Denver & 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 (any possible labor unrest could be more easily controlled by the D&RGW). 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 (later C-41) 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 (particularly the frame, valve gear, wheels, and counterweights) were constructed new for the locomotive class.

    The locomotives are of outside-frame design, with the driving wheels placed between the two chassis frames which support the boiler, but with the cylinders, driving rods, counterweights and valve gear on the outside. This general arrangement is shared with the earlier K-27, K-28 and K-36 Mikado type engines.

    Steam locomotives are a popular and attractive element of heritage railroads like the D&SNG and the C&TSRR. Burning coal tends to produce cinders, which can be a primary source of ignition for wildfires. Converting an engine from coal to oil eliminates the source of cinders. This will allow the engines to run when drought conditions would warrant replacing a steam engine with a diesel locomotive to decrease the probability of ignition.

    dsng493q1 On May 4, 2016, the D&SNG, in cooperation with the Colorado Railroad Museum, transported locomotive #493 to Durango after resting in Silverton for almost 20 years with the plan of having the museum transport it to Golden, Colorado and have it restored as well. However, after plans with the museum fell through, the D&SNG decided to undertake the restoration of #493 themselves. In the restoration process of #493 however, the locomotive was converted to oil-burning, making it the very first former D&RGW 2-8-2 to be converted to oil-burning instead of coal-burning, the next one being K-28 class #473.[7] On January 24, 2020, #493 moved under its own power for the first time in over 50 years, making it the first D&RGW K-37 class since #497 to run on the D&SNG. #493 then ran its first revenue run on the D&SNG on February 14, 2020.

    Wikipedia

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    May 2023 / RWH

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    May 2023 / RWH

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    May 2023 / RWH

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    May 2023 / RWH

    Diesel

    Durango & Silverton #11

  • builder:United States Steel
  • model:98 tonner
  • type:B-B centercab switcher
  • built:________________
  • notes:
  • blt by US Steel from GE parts
    to Durango & Silverton #11, 2006
  • steel_logo
    tag_bird tag_rare

    Durango & Silverton #101

  • builder:Alco Montreal
  • model:DL-535E
  • type:C-C road switcher
  • built:May 1969, MLW #6023-1
  • series:14 produced 1969-71
  • engine:Alco 251D (6 cyl, 1200 hp)
  • notes:
  • blt White Pass & Yukon #101
    to Sociedad Colombiana de Transport Ferroviaro #1101, 1992
    to White Pass & Yukon #101, 1999
    to Durango & Silverton #101, 2020
  • builder
    dsng101_clipping1

    from The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide by Jerry Pinkepank - 1973 / collection

    icon_wikipedia

    dsng101_inset3 The White Pass and Yukon Route Class DL-535E (sometimes known as the MLW-Worthington Model Series C-14) is a series of narrow-gauge diesel locomotives that were custom-built by the Montreal Locomotive Works of Montreal, Quebec in Canada between 1969 and 1971 for the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y) in Skagway, Alaska.

    Units 101-107 were built in May 1969 while units 108-110 were built in December 1971. They are powered by an American Locomotive Company (ALCO) model 6-251D prime mover. In July 1982, the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y) ordered an additional four units, those being units 111-114, built by the Bombardier Transportation, complete with a wide cab instead of the traditional standard cab at the time, but these units were ultimately never delivered to them and eventually placed in storage.

    In 1992, Units #102 and #105 were both severely damaged and burned beyond repair in a roundhouse fire in Skagway, Alaska and later scrapped as a result. Later that year, Nos. 101, 103, 104, 106, and 107 were sold to Sociedad Colombiana de Transport Ferroviaro in South America until later being sold back to the White Pass and Yukon Route in 1999 for tourist excursion service.

    In April 2020, Nos. 101, 103, 106, and 107 were sold again to the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) in Durango, Colorado, with Nos. 101 and 107 both arriving at the D&SNG in August and September of that year respectively and Nos. 103 and 106 both arriving at the D&SNG in September 2021. This was due to the late delivery of D&SNG MP2000NG type diesels Nos. 1201 and 1202, which were both custom-built by the now-defunct Motive Power and Equipment Solutions, Inc. (MP&ES) of Greenville, South Carolina sometime between 2018 and 2020, having both been rebuilt from two former Tri-Rail EMD F40PHL-2 type diesels.

    Wikipedia

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    May 2023 / RWH

    dsng101m1 dsng101m2 dsng101m3 dsng101m4 dsng101m5 dsng101m6 dsng101m7 dsng101m8 dsng101m9 dsng101m10 dsng101m11 dsng101m12

    May 2023 / RWH

    tag_clipArticle

    Durango & Silverton Buys White Pass & Yukon MLW Diesels

    April 2020

    dsng101_inset1 The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has purchased four diesel locomotives from Alaska’s White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. On April 11, two Montreal Locomotive Works DL535E locomotives, Nos. 101 and 107, were loaded onto a barge in Skagway, Alaska, for the multi-week journey to Colorado. Two other locomotives will be shipped next year. D&SNG officials said the MLWs will initially be used on work trains and its short Cascade Canyon Express excursions, which cover about half of the railroad’s 45-mile route.

    “Reliable narrow-gauge diesels of this size, design and efficiency are few and far between, so the D&SNG jumped at the chance to acquire them when we were first approached last year by the WP&YR,” said D&SNG General Manager Jeff Johnson.

    The motive power swap between the two iconic 3-foot gauge railroads comes at a time of change on both route’s rosters. The WP&YR recently purchased six new diesels from National Railway Equipment Company in Illinois, the first of which arrived in Skagway this spring. Meanwhile, the D&SNG has been looking at getting diesels for nearly two years after it was shut down for over a month in 2018 due to a wildfire during a historically dry summer. Investigators with the U.S. Forest Service have claimed the fire was caused by one of the D&SNG’s coal-fired steam locomotives. After the fire, the D&SNG announced that it was purchasing two new MP2000NG locomotives from Motive Power & Equipment Solutions, Inc. in Greenville, S.C. to enable it to continue to operate even when the fire danger is high. Those locomotives are expected to arrive this fall.

    dsng101_inset2 With the acquisition of the four WP&YR locomotives and the new diesels from MPES, the D&SNG will have a dozen diesel locomotives on the property by next year. The railroad is currently planning to build a new shop next to the Durango roundhouse to maintain its new fleet. However, officials have said that while the D&SNG is purchasing diesel locomotives to have more flexibility, the former Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-2s that are the mainstay of its roster are not being replaced.

    “Even with the purchase of these four WP&YR locomotives, steam will still reign supreme in Durango,” said Chief Mechanical Officer Randy Babcock. “As we place these units into service, we will assess our current fleet of industrial diesels, and determine how many of them are needed to achieve our goals. It is our strategic direction not to be a diesel-focused railroad, but rather maintain our place as the premier steam-powered heritage tourist railroad in the country now and well into the foreseeable future.”

    Earlier this year, the D&SNG completed the restoration of K37 No. 493, one of the largest D&RGW narrow gauge locomotives ever built. As part of that restoration, the locomotive was converted to burn oil and the railroad has started to work on converting a second locomotive, K-28 No. 473.

    The D&SNG’s new diesels from Alaska were built by MLW in 1969 specifically for the WP&YR’s mountainous territory. In the 1990s, the six-axle locomotives were sold and briefly used in South American before returning north at the turn of the century.

    Justin Franz / Railfan & Railroad Magazine

    Durango & Silverton #103

  • builder:Alco Montreal
  • model:DL-535E
  • type:C-C road switcher
  • built:May 1969, MLW #6023-3
  • series:14 produced 1969-71
  • engine:Alco 251D (6 cyl, 1200 hp)
  • notes:
  • blt White Pass & Yukon #103
    to Sociedad Colombiana de Transport Ferroviaro #1103, 1992
    to White Pass & Yukon #103, 1999
    to Durango & Silverton #103, 2020
  • builder
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    May 2023 / RWH

    Durango & Silverton #107

  • builder:Alco Montreal
  • model:DL-535E
  • type:C-C road switcher
  • built:May 1969, MLW #6023-7
  • series:14 produced 1969-71
  • engine:Alco 251D (6 cyl, 1200 hp)
  • notes:
  • blt White Pass & Yukon #107
    to Sociedad Colombiana de Transport Ferroviaro #1107, 1992
    to White Pass & Yukon #107, 1999
    to Durango & Silverton #107, 2020
  • builder

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    This page was updated on 2024-01-08