Steam & Excursion > 2 Very Different Types Of Steam Power Sitting Together!

I always liked the contrast in steam power that this photo by Bert Ward shows us.

Bert and some of his California railfan friends traveled to Colorado to charter a special train behind RGS Mudhen #455 in July of 1947. One of their stops was was at Vance Junction where Bert snapped this photo.

Parked next to the coal chute the narrow gauge 2-8-2 with her massive snow plow still installed, looks somewhat small in comparison with RGS Rotary #2. Even though the Rotary has nearly all the same components as does locomotive #455, the massive blades on the front of Rotary #2 show how this machine used the steam from it's boiler in a very different way than was used by #455.

Soon the coaling of #455 would be complete and the special will be on its way. I am glad Bert was able to catch this great view for us while he could.


Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/15 03:22 by LoggerHogger.

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Plowing rocks like that can't be good for 455's plow

Posted from iPhone

Martin thanks for thr great photos!!

Looks like 455 plows more than snow

I am enclosing a photo of one of my favorite Rotary builder's plates that I purchased from Herb O'Hanlon many years ago. This rotary was damaged with a boiler explosion in 1949 and never repaired. I have been the caretaker of RGS Rotary #2 for many years.

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Ron,

Great to see that you have this plate. The photo I posted is of the same Rotary #2 just a couple years before her boiler explosion.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/15 08:46 by LoggerHogger.

Awesome shot...

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

What ever happened to the 455?

Here is the sad answer to your question. The date was 1953.

Martin

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455 was in the middle of an overhaul when the RGS shut down. It last ran in June 1951 and the shop got well into the overhaul when they were told to stop in September, 1951. They were told the RGS would be shut down by the end of the year and the engine would not be needed. The RGS rented engines from the D&RGW for the remainder of the year (mostly 452 out of Ridgway and 464 out of Durango). Note the neatly striped driver tires, what seems to be unused superheater flues (with evidence of safe ends welded to them. The other pic shows 461 being cut up with the 455 in the back ground. Note 461's scaled up tubes.

On Wikipedia, the 455 is listed as one of the "Mudhens". Didn't all of the 2-8-2's have this trademark, i.e. the outside counter-balances, or is there something more to the K-27class to deserve this moniker?

Jim Montague
IRVINE, CA
Train and Nature photo Art

Really nice photo, Martin. Thanks.

Here's what Vance Jct looks like today.

Jason Rose
Spring, TX
Rio Grande Explorations

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Jason,

Nice photo. Even though you have a very nice looking truck, the #455 looked better by the coal dock.

Martin

Not my truck (belongs to a friend). But, I wholeheartedly agree. 455 looked better.

Jason Rose
Spring, TX
Rio Grande Explorations

3751_loony Wrote:
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> On Wikipedia, the 455 is listed as one of the
> "Mudhens". Didn't all of the 2-8-2's have this
> trademark, i.e. the outside counter-balances, or
> is there something more to the K-27class to
> deserve this moniker?

Only the K-27 class, numbers 450-464 were known as "Mudhens".